I experienced God on the river this week. As part of a visit with my Mom, I went tubing down the river with my family. We floated, we got stuck, we went fast and we meandered. We helped others and they helped us. We laid back and relaxed and we worked hard to free ourselves or try to steer. And all the while, God was there.
God was in the....
God was in each of those things.
God was definitely in the floating. We put our heads back and felt the breeze, felt the ease. We were not in control of the current or where it took us. We didn't mind. Surrender was there for us and we embraced it. What a joy to simply be in that moment.
God was in the getting stuck for there we found more limits to our control. It seemed that no matter how much we tried to maintain a direction, the current took us where it led. If we fought it, we ended up in the branches or rocks along the shoreline. If we again surrendered, we often found ourselves floating more easily through the obstacles in our path.
Sometimes though we got so stuck that we needed help. God was there too. God was in those young boys who interrupted their own trip down the river to stay back to get everyone else over the rocks and back in the current. God was in all those who pushed and pulled their own team and others' to get unstuck. God was in me as I got off my tube to push and pull our little flotilla over and around rocks and branches.
God was in our pace as well. When we went fast, it was scary, it was wet, we were tossed and spun around. When it was slow, we rested, we paused, we breathed easy and deep. God was in the thrill - God's gonna trouble the waters. God was in the rest - God leads me beside still waters...God restores my soul.
Where is God for you
Spiritual direction is in many ways simply about finding God in your life. It is about awakening to the divine that lives and breathes around you and me and within you and me at all times. If only we have eyes to see and ears to hear what is already there. As you go about your day, your week, your life, may you find God there. May it be forever so.
Comments