Happy October 1st, changing leaves, cooler, sweatshirt weather, love it! Nature’s changes are prominent in the psalms, occasions to praise the Creator’s incomprehensible greatness. So it was, but today? We compartmentalize everything, and we easily limit God’s presence to church.
From medieval monk, Brother Lawrence: “The most holy practice, the nearest to daily life, and the most essential for the spiritual life, is the practice of the presence of God, that is to find joy in his divine company and to make it a habit of life, speaking humbly and conversing lovingly with him at all times, every moment, without rule or restriction, above all at times of temptation, distress, dryness, and revulsion, and even of faithlessness and sin” (“The Practice of the Presence of God,” 68). Isn’t that another way of saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”? (Matthew 22:37).
Reflecting on his life, St. Augustine does what we often don’t. He makes every issue a conversation with God. For example, “Thanks to you, my God. Whence and whither have you led my memory, that I should confess such things as these to you? For great as they were, I had forgetfully passed them over. And yet at that time, when the sweet savor of your ointment was so fragrant, I did not run after you. Therefore, I wept more bitterly as I listened to your hymns, having so long panted after you” (“Confessions,” 9.7.16).
Did you notice that “the practice of the presence of God,” as Brother Lawrence called it, was something that Augustine had to develop? To his natural aging Augustine added intentional effort to see God present in every moment of his life. That the saving grace of God through Christ is free, not in any way earned, should increase our desire to know His presence in every moment of life. Thus, October becomes an invitation not just to enjoy nature but to marvel in the cathedral of God’s creation. “He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills” and so much more. “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:8, 11). “Abide with me! I need Thy presence every passing hour.”
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