NEARER MY GOD, TO THEE… OR NOT

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith for the Years of Winter

I am trying to do two spiritual growth things as I age. One is to learn to come into the presence of God, experience God, without writing about it. The other is to learn to use interruptions as a way of experiencing God, even interruptions in my spiritual growth time.

Early is a good spiritual growth time, a time to work on experiencing God, before interruptions from the world, and I’m up early, before anyone else in the whole world, except the garbage guys.

Just as I was “getting in sync with the universe,” something I try to do as I lie in bed in that interregnum between sleeping and waking, I noticed some red numerals staring at me from the table beside the bed, trying to notify me that I had stayed up too late last night and so was in bed almost two hours later than usual and that it was time for the garbage guys. Way before the universe was in harmony, I had to jump up, get dressed, not even taking the time to mismatch my plaids, and take the bag of garbage and the five containers of recycling, neatly separated by category, out to the curb. I did not get closer to God in that process, even though it’s in the early morning hours that I try to get closer to God, and I am working on using the interruptions for spiritual growth, because interruptions… well, they are interruptive.

So, after repeated visits to the curb, on an unseasonably chilly morning, I did last night’s dishes as I perked coffee and mixed a bowl of cereal and fruit and folk medicines [turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, flax seed, locally-grown honey]. Not closer to God.

Finally, I am ensconced on my sofa, with my breakfast, and I have to go to the bathroom…

…and then I have a sneezing fit…

…and then there is a strange noise in the wall…

…and then I get a text ding…

…and I figure, “I can write about this,” about how I am using the interruptions to come closer to God, except I am not, and then remember that I am supposed to be using this time to come closer to God without writing about it…

JRMcF

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com