MAYBE GOD IS LESS COMPLICATED THAN WE THINK

     When I was a child, we used to go to church on Christmas Eve and Easter, mostly to sing my mother's favorite hymns, which grew to be my favorite hymns as well. And I liked the candles and the music and kneeling on the pull-down cushions. But I have never been a regular, every-Sunday kind of church goer. Something in me resists it and has always resisted it. I don't like being told what to believe.
     God feels more personal to me than the structure of churches and religious doctrines, more accessible than that. I think we want to make God into a big deal, something grand and vast and inexplicable that is extremely difficult to contact or make use of, something to fear, and revere. But maybe God is as common and daily as breathing in and breathing out, as light pouring through glass and making patterns on a wood floor, as a smile, or a full belly after a good meal. Maybe God is a way of experiencing the world without blocks or resistance. Maybe God is simple and not complicated and inaccessible after all. Maybe the point of all this living is to simply enjoy the gift of life, and to show our gratitude by expressing our love.

I am going to enjoy my life today as if it is a present, carefully wrapped and delivered especially for my personal joy. I am going to unwrap it with delight.