Awakening to Divine Presence: Part 2

Recognizing Gods Divine Presence

As we move through our earthly chronological days, we often are so immersed in our earthly task that we are oblivious to the fact that God is present in every living thing, including human beings & in every moment. He longs to be in union with His creation. By His grace, God, by his very nature, transcends all time, all restrictions, & all fears & offers us opportunities to live life in His Divine presence not only in the Biblically recorded recognized Holy days but in every day. In order for us to recognize & receive the Kairos moments & receive the direct experience of being in God’s Divine presence, we need to be awake to the fullness of time offered by God. As with the shepherds at the manger & Mary at the empty tomb, when we are pulled by God into the undefined space of His Holy presence, in order for us to recognize, feel, experience & believe in the fullness of life given to us by God who transcends all time & space our heart space, our mind space & our body awareness all need to be simultaneously open & non-resistant.

Being in God’s holy presence is always a deep inner connection which can involve both profound joy & profound sadness. Regardless of the situation the divine connection in God’s Divine presence always leads away from the empty, sometimes monotony, of Chronos time & increasing into a peaceful deep faith filled sense of hope, comfort, joy & overwhelming love of Kairos time as God bathes His creation in His grace. All emptiness is gone in Kairos moment, as time stands still & the heart is filled with His divine presence. He intersects our chronological time every day in earthly ways, sometimes when we least expect it. We may not even recognize it as such at the time, other than to feel prayerfully awed into stillness & silence, but after we have experienced God’s presence with us, we can never forget it. We will remember in the darkness what we experienced in the light. We can feel the pull of His presence on our heart in every situation we encounter in our lives; when we see & touch a new born baby, when we sit by a lake or ocean, when we see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, when we feel the wind against our face, when we see plants pushing up through the ground, when we eat food from the earth, when we hear beautiful music, when we are struggling & suddenly notice a hawk flying effortlessly above us reminding us of God’s strength & beauty in all of creation, when we hear children crying in loneliness & pain, when we hear of or see of injustice, when we hear tragic news, when we share deep love & respect with one another, when we stand by the bedside of a sick suffering person, when we hear some shocking personal news such as the sudden death of a loved one, & when we quietly watch & wait for someone to forgive us.

God’s love for all His creation is limitless. He is present with us through every aspect of our living. All we need to do is to be open & nonresistant to His Divine pull on us. As we step into this season of new life, God is inviting us all to trust in His radical grace & to recognize & receive His gift of His Divine presence with us each & every day, for it is the gift that will most assuredly bring new life.

AMEN 

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Pastoral Care Minister with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy