“. . . God has come near you;” nearer than our very breath, someone said. The Holy One, the source and essence of all creation, indwells us and enfolds us with Love wherever we may be, whatever we may be doing. The question is: how aware are we of that precious Presence? Have we even noticed it? Are we paying attention to the Paraclete walking beside us, to the One who goes before us to make the rough places smooth and follows after to clean up the messes in our wake?

If that question resonates with you, just how do we go about waking up, to begin to notice that “God has come near you”? The epistle of James says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” (4:8a) Since we know God is always and ever near, I suggest we might consider the message could be that, as we draw near to God, our hearts and eyes are opened to recognize the divine Presence in the here and now. Traditionally, spiritual practices have been used to enable us to draw near to God. In my previous parish, we had a regular column in our monthly newsletter devoted to spiritual practices. Month by month, parishioners shared the practices that nourished their relationship with the Beloved. There were articles on the expected practices of prayer, fasting, meditation, Bible study, spiritual reading, journaling, lectio divina, making retreats, getting spiritual direction, etc., but they didn’t stop there. Others shared how different activities in daily life became spiritual practices for them, such as: gardening, fishing, knitting, walking on the beach, writing, playing the piano or some other musical instrument, even some housework like ironing or washing dishes, just as Brother Lawrence found while peeling potatoes in the monastery kitchen all those years ago.

If you haven’t yet discovered somewhere deep inside that “Bidden or not bidden, God is present” * right now, you might try shaking things up with a new spiritual practice to help you “draw near to God”. God is waiting patiently for you to show up.

*Carl Jung