God in the Ordinary

Something finally clicked for me. We are always looking for the extraordinary, but of course God is hidden in the ordinary things of everyday life. We may say, “oh the sunset is so beautiful,“ but there’s a sunset every single day all around the world. And even on distant worlds. Flowers, dirt, birds, a wood floor, a footstool, a piece of art. All of these things happen every single day and happen over and over. We hardly even notice them. The beauty of music just becomes noise. The sunshine is pretty ordinary too. But the mundane hides the glory of creation, the glory of the natural universe.

When we forget to appreciate the flowers at the side of the road, or the shapes the clouds make in the sky, our wonder starts to die. We need to keep wonder alive, for ourselves and our children. The ordinary, easily overlooked, everyday phenomena are the doorway. Peace is on the other side. Perhaps even a child like joy. The late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh was always pointing to the present moment. The moment is full of ordinary things. There is nowhere else to look. It is where everything happens. 

Breathe. Be surrounded by everyday life. Remember your body. Remember your breath. When we sit and do these things, and make a daily habit of it, we grow. The path is the destination, it is the answer. There are milestones that will give you your assurances of progress, but these are only way pointers, don’t get stuck there. Keep practicing mindfully and you will learn love and self acceptance. The universe will smile. 

 Another thing we need to do is to stop reflecting on ourselves. Analyzing ourselves, and how other people see us, maybe one of the biggest hindrances to the spiritual life. When we’re in the present moment, we are just being what we are without labeling and analyzing ourselves or the situation. In the biblical story, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they immediately realized that they were naked, so it seems to me that they probably had not reflected on themselves until that point. So maybe that reflection on the superficial self is the beginning of evil. We know that pride and arrogance make for very difficult people. So that obsession with self leads to all manner of dysfunction. 

Thank you for reading, 

Prayers and kind vibes to all of you