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| Huff Park wetland from observation deck (Grand Rapids, MI) |
Habits may form with sustained effort or by accident. When it comes to looking for opportunities to act as God's hands or feet out in the world, far from the Sunday church pews, many people are unaccustomed to seeing their world that way, at least at first. In this first photo, it is not too hard to look across a large patch of natural habitat, especially when it wakes up from winter sleep as the days grow longer, and hear the many forms of life - in sights, sounds, smells, and textures. The multiplicity of Earthly creation is a vivid expression of God. The life force sends sap up into the cold branches finally touched by the springtime sun. Birds pair up to build nests and lay eggs. Bees do bee things. Surely, the author of the universes (multiverses?) is present in all of this. But moving from nature preserve to places dominated by human manipulation, like the nearby residential streets, God's presence is not as directly and immediately obvious.
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| Westward view of newly sold church; elementary school beyond that |
The bare trees line the city street with overhead utility wires singing in the gusty wind. An American flag flaps in front of the house at the right edge of the photo. Perhaps some residents attend church worship services nearby or due to Covid transition online, they continue on this Sunday turning their attention and intention to things of God by means of Internet. Other neighbors on this street may no longer affiliate with organized forms of religion or maybe never did. The slender steeple in the distance belongs to a church that dwindled during Covid restrictions and demographic aging out or retirement migration away. So a different body of believers of a different denomination decided to leave their existing location for this address in the north part of the city. Partly in view behind and beyond the church is the neighborhood elementary school. In all these places - street, homes, church, and school God is present, whether acknowledged, looked for, or overlooked by ignorance (or possibly denied from animus). Continuing on this tour of city life and looking out for God, the last picture shows a section of a busy road nearby that hosts a number of businesses, some franchises and others local creations.
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| Plainfield Avenue was an Indian road pre-colonization |
Just like the nature preserve, God is in the air and the creatures living in the occasional decorative tree or landscape shrubs. God is in the architect's hands, the builder's attention to detail, and the customer's greeting in reply to the shopkeeper's welcome. The busy commuter's belong to God's kingdom and whatever joys and worries (or lack of same) fill the person, God is there, too.
It is all very well to project God's creative touch and boundless love for all the creatures, but at the same time there is danger in willfully imposing interpretations onto every little thing. It is not mistaken to believe and accept God's hand in all that we can sense, and even in things we cannot sense. But it is a mistake to collapse and conflate the complicated life stories, circumstances, context, and psychological baggage carried by many people. All those details do matter, and in the mind of the observer or in the mind of the person moving about the world, maybe those details trump any credit that God owns.
Getting into the habit of seeing God all around is healthy and fulfilling. But that habit should not come at the expense of disregarding all the personal and particular details that are present and sometimes in direct conflict with God's Will. The very best way to notice and appreciate God's abundance and eternal, unrelenting love for all the creatures inhabiting this creation, is to start looking, start appreciating, and enjoying God's abiding presence in ordinary times and places, as well as in the rare moments and settings. Yes, do get used to seeing God everywhere big or small. No, do not impose God-only vision onto everything without also acknowledging the presence of personal and worldly dimensions, too.
