Good morning…
Awareness is an interesting thing. When I am in a deeply contemplative state, quietly calm, I rest relaxed down deep in my soul. When I am in a more frantic, frenzied state, I am up in my obsessive mind, struggling for control on the surface of myself. So it was very interesting to watch myself caught in a meditative state, called to give a cognitive response, and losing my words somewhere between my inner basement and my tippy-top floor.
Last week, the co-author of our semester’s book, The Hidden Life: Revelations from a Holy Journey, came to my living room to meet with our Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes while she was in Atlanta for a conference. Before the women began to arrive, Cathy Snapp and I enjoyed a life-giving conversation over a salad lunch on my back porch, surrounded by the vibrant green of the trees and the slow dance of the sun with the autumn breeze. When she and I stepped back inside the screen door, the room was bustling. About thirty-five of us gathered around Cathy’s wisdom, perched on every couch, chair, and stair in my humble home.
As she began to talk, I was mesmerized. From her extensive medical knowledge, she talked about neurons and how they connect to make a thought. She talked about gratitude and how it measurably reshapes a brain. She talked about diet and exercise, nature and friendship, self expression and creative release, how our daily choices can wake up connections between our spiritual, physical, and emotional health.
Nearing the end of our time, in a trance like state, I whispered “Goodbye” to a friend leaving early and Cathy thought I was giving an answer to her open ended question. I was caught exposed in my contemplative state. I was deeply entranced, hovering down at my core, so to access an answer from my cognitive brain was impossible for me in that instant. I babbled something, but embarrassingly, I could not even retrieve her name. Cathy and I had just spent this beautiful, bonding time together and, in that moment, I could not recall her simple name.
Why do I tell you this story? Because God is alive at every level of our selves. The LORD wants to be with us in our frantic and frenzied, reminding us, “Fear not. I am with you. All will be well.” Our Creator calls us to the depth of ourselves so that we notice the power of God’s Holy Spirit expanding at our core. Our life-giving Source yearns to take up residence in each cell, from each hair on our head to each nail on our toes. Individually and collectively, God seeks to embody every inch of our being, healing our pain, making us new.
I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new,” Revelation 21:3-5a (MSG),
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