Close to God

There is an old saying... "if you are not as close to God as you used to be, guess who moved."  When I was young, I loved this saying.  Now, I hate it.  I think it is terrible theology and it places a tremendous amount of guilt and shame onto anyone who takes it in.

First of all, feelings are fickle.  How you feel about God has nothing to do with God's presence in your world or his love for you.

Secondly, God is everywhere and in everything.  If you don't "feel" close to God, I would suggest that you simply start paying attention to what is around you.

The beach. An oak tree. Baseball. Your dog. A friend. The ability to think. There are 10,000 things around you and I right now that remind us that God is here and that he loves us.  One of my favorite quotes...

"You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink." –G. K. Chesterton

For those who are paying attention to the gift of life, there is never a question that God is present or that God loves us.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.