Thursday, August 30, 2007

God in Others


If this attempt I am making to let God make me more aware of God's presence within me and around me in nature and art is authentic, then I should be able to find God in people as well.

It is easy to see the Divine shining in the people I love: relatives and friends and children such as those in this picture. It is not so easy to recognize God in the people who annoy me or take advantage of me or whose behavior makes me mad. God is not in the bad things or in the evil that people do, but God is in the persons who do them.

Recently I made a very deliberate effort to treat some people who were getting on my nerves the way I would treat God, to love them. The problem didn't entirely disappear, but that did help. I wasn't always on edge the way I had been with them earlier.

I do find God in people who need me for physical things such as for food or utilities; but when they are emotionally or psychologically needy it is not always easy for me. I pray that as I become more and more aware of God in me and in the beauty and goodness around me, I will find it easier to recognize the Divine shining in those I find unattractive.

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