The Lord in Everything

[Abiien]

Okay so, if im not mistaken, the catechism says that “God is present in everything because he made everything” therefore we would see God in things such as… mountains, or water, or dirt?
I could be totally wrong, but anyway.

I was praying on the way home from a friends house, its been a rough day (spiritually) and just ive been totally ignorant of what im called to do and waht im called to be. Anyway… I’m praying in my car, and listening to a good Third Day Song(number 12 on Whereever you are) and im just contemplating my day, and what choices i made that i shouldnt have and anything new that might be distracting me. (not trying to sound like a saint or anything, but this is what i really do, and i know you do it to : ) and I ask God to just help me get through this night. I thank him for my day, and as sin-less(not to be mistaken with no sin, just less) as it was, and how much fun ive had(basketball, soccer, video games).
So, I step out of my car, and it being a cold front, i usually relate cold fronts to a good looking sky. I look up from my state of daze, and i fall into a state of amazement. Ever been in a mood where you just notice something so beautiful, even as the stary wondrous moonlit sky with wispy clouds and cold winds just gave you a glimpse of something, you don’t exactly know what it is, but it just bring this euphoric feeling to you, and you feel just like praising God at that moment, and thanking him, and praying and just asking him …" This is almost too much, dont you think, God? "

What an experience!
What a Joyous thing God has given me.
I am sure that somepoint you all have experienced something similar to this, and maybe even the exact same thing, but who knows! Its beautiful, it proves once again how wonderful our God is, and there are so many subtle things that we drift by in our days. I dont really have a point to this, im just saying, Praise God for Nature!
I would also like to say, take a moment out of your day, head out somewhere, maybe even in a cold windy night, and go outside and just look around, look at the sky, the clouds, listen to the water, wind, trees, grass- what ever is around you! and Just listen as God speaks to you in “a still small voice” as he did in on the mountain with Elijah.
Not only will YOU appreciate this, God will as well.
I know you’ve all heard this jabber before, but i believe it needs to be heard at all times, especially with my fellow faithful Brothers and Sisters. (sirach 9:15)

I pray that the Lord brings us closer to him each and every minute of our day, that we may notice him in even the smallest places (yes, everywhere!!!)!

May the grace of our Lord be with you all!

 

[Polish]

Dear Abiien,

Maybe it’s just the Florida skies , but I totally agree with you. Many a time, I’ve seen people stopped along I95 or elsewhere, taking pictures of the sunrise or sunset.

I watch the skies, mainly in the mornings and the early evenings and am overwhelmed with God’s beauty, ever changing clouds and colors and bursts of sun rays. Each day is different and His beauty is always unfolding. Remarkable too, and almost unfathomable, is that this has been happening since the days of creation and each day is and will be different. What a God we have!!!

I am amazed when I look at His creatures and plants. How His birds sing their morning greeting to His Majesty. They live their lives in complete accord with His Will. And the colors of nature - absolutely breathtaking - colors that sing to our hearts!

Our God created all things from nothing. He created long and short, thick and thin, up and down, soft and hard, sweet and sour, everything. How magnificant must His Heaven be!

I am truly grateful and humbled to be allowed to see my God in all His creations. There is nothing in all the world, from the beginning of time until the end, that can compare with our Wonderous God!

 

[puzzleannie]

at a gathering of DREs for breakfast at Denny’s last week, we commented that the sky showed us a panorama of salvation history as we sat there. started sunny, warm, beautiful really clear blue sky we don’t often see here because of dust, smoke and pollution, just idyllic weather. then the cold front came through, and we could see it, the sky darken to a deep green-slate gray, the wind whipping the trees, branches blowing around, then a furious rain that had the streets flooded in minutes, that stopped, and gradually the flooding cleared, the sky got a bit lighter but it was still gray, cold, and a light but chilling rain falling (the same thing was snow the rest of the country got further north).

by the time we left at noon, although it was 30 degrees colder than it had been at 9 (yes), the sun was nearly overhead, peeking through the clouds, the sky was clear to the west, but the sun’s light was penetrating everywhere, drying the cars, softening the wind and chill, and hope for a better day was in the air, and in fact the afternoon, although still cold and windy was very clear and bright, quite lovely, and the next day, a bit warmer, no wind, absolutely clear blue sky, lovely day for golf, walking etc.

you could still see the effects of the storm, trees down, other damage, but people were starting to clear that up and clean up the streets. yes, our Lord is with us always.

 

[GoldenArrow]

You had a beautiful experience, but I’d like to clarify something for sake of Church teaching.

God is in all things but this statement needs qualification, else it is Pantheism.

God is everywhere. God is therefore in all things inasmuch as His Presence. He is everywhere in terms of his Omniprescience (all-seeingness). He is in all things as the immediate cause of their existence.

God did not break off pieces of Himself into His Creation. There is one exception: Jesus Christ, whose humanity has a substantial unity with the Divine. But even in Christ, each of the two natures continues unimpaired, untransformed and unmixed with the other, and also, each of the two natures in Christ possesses its own natural will and its own natural mode of operation. (Ott).

What does that mean in English?

My catechism teacher (a priest) explained it this way:

God is like a painter. Creation is like God’s painting.

The soul of any artist is reflected in his works. The artist is present everywhere in the painting because his creation reflects parts of his own essence. His creation reflects his love.

A painter does not break off pieces of himself off and place them into his painting.* The soul of the artist is in the person of the artist, just as the soul of Jesus Christ is present in the person of the Word. The painting, then, refects forever the presence of the Artist, BUT the painting is not part of the artist’s nature (his soul).

In terms of the ONE exception, Jesus Christ, I’ll use another metaphor. The Artist, God, reached inside himself, tore off a piece of His Heart and placed it gently into His painting. That heart, nestled inside the womb of the Blessed Virgin, became God made Man: Jesus Christ.

Now, if you say God is literally IN all things and don’t make the clarification, you get into the murky waters of Pantheism, which basically states that the Universe is God.

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion. Buddhism and Sufism are Pantheistic religions.

** With the exception of “modern” artists who paint with their blood and various other things. YUCK!!! *

Hope this helps.

And yes, I agree with you. God is the best of all artists, and His creation, from time to time, reveals His Glory.

God Bless!

 

[littleone]

It is so good to see others with the same vision as God wishes us to take about His creation and Himself.
I put it this way.
“The person who sees the creation may never see the creator.
But the person who sees the creator already knows the creation because they are one and the same”.
A person once said to me, Wayne you are funny you see God in all things even a blade of grass".
Isn’t that what you are saying, I think it is!
God bless you
I can say I know you, and other like you, because you look and see God in His creation, His spirit hovered over the waters and the land. It is not something you cant see if you don’t have your heart on God.