Find God in EVERYTHING

Woke up quite early today even thought for many other’s it was a lazy Sunday.
The regular routine of reading paper in the morning and chilling out with music. I found very relevant article in the Newspaper (Times of India, or rather Sunday Times) which was very thoughtful and made me think, thought will bring it forward here….

In the midst of confusion, it is possible to find simple ways to God, says Mary Jo Fraser

Is it just my age, or is it the age we live in? Lately I have felt besieged by all the passwords, personal identification numbers and codes that I am supposed to remember just to get through the day. There is one for the bank, another for my computer, a different one for the long distance phone company. How can we remember all these requirements? There are limits to what our overloaded minds can safely retain.
Fortunately our all-knowing God anticipated this memory challenge and sent the Holy Spirit into our lives to remind us of everything that God said and taught. We have the gift of an ever-present companion, the Spirit of God who will help and guide us along the confusing twists and turns of life. In the midst of all this confusion, it is possible for us to find simple ways to God. Among them, these three stand out: Delighting in the Ordinary, Being Available, and Experiencing God.
Each of us is called to Delight in the Ordinary. We are called to set aside our distractions and worries and listen carefully to the word of God. In this way, we choose the ways that bring us closer to Him. There is an awesome responsibility that comes with being ordinary. Each day we must make choices and decisions.
The ordinary can also be extraordinary. We are partners on our mission. We are walking the same faith journey. We find strength in the support of our companions. God calls all of us to labour in the vineyard, to bring peace and healing daily wherever we are. We cannot underestimate the importance of ministering together. God gives us one another so that together we can do ordinary and extraordinary things to help one another. Have you ever been hesitant to ask for help or to tell someone what you really needed? It can be difficult. It means recognising our human limitations, our ordinariness.
We sometimes fear rejection when we express our needs to others. However, we have the promise from
God that, when we ask, our needs will be heard. We will not be rejected. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever searches finds, and those who knock have the door opened to them. We are often fearful that our prayers will not be heard or that they will not be answered in the ways we hope.
Let us give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit and pray for the courage to express our needs and be willing to accept the answers to our prayers. The challenge is to be more aware of our needs and unafraid to ask for help. We can even pray to ask with boldness. Thus we learn to delight in the ordinary. We recognise our roles of being both prophets and partners. When we can do that, we will treat ourselves with more kindness, laugh more, play more, breathe more deeply, rest more soundly and hold hurts more loosely.
Another way to find God is through the gift of presence we bring to one another. We need compassion for others to help bring out the love that is within us. Still, it is not always easy to be with others and so we need to strike a balance between the time we need for personal quiet and reflection and the time we are available to others. Only then can we live gentle, compassionate lives.
One day a woman’s little girl arrived home late after school. The mother was so angry that she started to yell at her. After a few minutes, the mother stopped yelling and asked her daughter, “Why are you so late anyway?” The daughter replied, “Because I had to help another girl who was in trouble.” “Well, what did you do to help her?” The daughter replied, “Oh, I sat down next to her and helped her cry.” The value of our presence to another should never be minimised.
Listening to others is another way of being available. That is why speaking with a family member or companion is usually good for all concerned. However, so many people have had difficult things happen to them in their lives that they can only meet each day with hurts and needs that keep surfacing.
A third way to find God is to experience the Blessings of God all around us. Blessings come in the warmth of God’s love each day. Think of the blessing of a rainbow. We don’t make rainbows. They are pure gifts. God blesses us with rainbows and gives us unexpected beauty to hearten our way. Every moment God looks at sky and trees, flowers and birds, women and men and says, “How good! This is my gift, my blessing to you.”
There is a way to count our blessings in these days when so many are counting one disaster after another. We have to remember that we can find good even in difficult times. Sometimes things get so bad that we just feel helpless. However, even in such times there is a way to see blessings. We need to understand that it is okay to be flawed because we are totally loved by God.