My Task Is "Will I Let Him"?

As time goes, the conversations about God begin to pass along within the participants.  Then some people are responding, and through these written treasures of communication, we explore together all things GOD.

He is Almighty. He is sovereign. He is different things as I need him to be.

HE IS......

The question to me lately has been, not what is he? It becomes "Will I let Him be.....?"

Taking on the task of surrender,

Jan M. Olsen
~J~

Angel writes again, after reading Mark and Brian's responses:

 

Hey, Mama!

Wow! That's pretty cool! I don't wanna piggyback on his answer, but I know that it resonated with me. I have also felt the bigness of God and my smallness in relation to Him. Actually, for me, that happens most often when I see the stars or the ocean. I know that's kinda trite. Lots of people, not all of them aware of God, have referred to feeling small or insignificant when faced with the majesty of creation.

I've been thinking about my own answers to your questions. I remember that when you asked me what I see I told you about the father holding infant me in his shiny, huge hands. That's still true on occasion, but more often than not, I see the Master of the Universe, and the Lover of my soul. The combination of those two things makes for a very humbled me. In the past year I have had the opportunity to examine the Sovereignty of ALMIGHTY God. I have been reminded countless times throughout my Christian upbringing that God is Creator, Father, and Friend. Recently though, I have begun to learn what it means to submit a life much bigger than I am to the Alpha and Omega. The Author and Finisher of my faith. Nothing I do could ever surprise Him. Nothing I face is outside His understanding or control. And yet, His heart breaks when mine is wounded.

He is the only hope I have for peace in this life. Knowing that he SPOKE and THERE WAS is steadily becoming more of an anchor in my stormy sea of self-discovery. Knowing that He never changes means that He could just as easily speak to my situation and make it what He wants it to be...If I let Him. I think that the observation of the human tendency to create God in Man's image was very profound and (much to our chagrin) accurate. Still, even scripture says that it is possible to "limit the Holy One of Israel". That's why I felt it was important to share not just the image I have of God, but the way I view myself in relation to Him.

My greatest challenge is allowing God to be the Sovereign Lord that He is. As we have always said, "to let God be God". That's why it's so important to me to remind myself that the only appropriate view of my role in his throne-room is one of submission and ultimate servitude.

WOW! I bet you weren't expecting all that! May not have been what you had in mind, but I couldn't seem to stop typing. Does that make sense? I guess you're not the only writer in this family! ;P Luv ya, Lady!

Angel Bugs

 

Pastor H writes again, after reading some of the conversation:

 

Just difficult to answer. But I guess I see him as I need him. There's times I see him on the cross. Times I see him as a shepherd. Other times I see him as a friend of the disciples. Hope this is what you were asking.

M. H.

The Connection We All Share

One of the themes of the God conversations, has been having GOD as the focus.  The center point.  Yet, the all inclusive, GOD IS ALL.  For me personally, one of the gifts of this past year was being reminded afresh that we are all connected. The only distance between us, is in our own perceptions and thoughts.  Once the skin to this onion-like present slid away?  I return daily to the connection, the unity, the wholeness with my fellows. We are all created by GOD in HIS image. All belongs to GOD.  All eventually returns to GOD.

I wonder what GOD thinks about these conversations?  Surely, it must be pleasing to him to be the focus of talk at the dinner table, on the work place, and in our personal or recreation time.  If a person allows themself? It is easy to find things that bring unease or discomfort in our world. Real and imagined, these serve to keep us turned inward in self-defense, instead of upward to GOD and outward towards one another.

Reminded by a friend recently, that GOD and his flow is always turned "ON".  The only disconnect is in me.  Turn the spigot to "on".   The Source is then flowing again, in uninterupted Connection.

Warmed to know I am not alone or adrift, I am grateful to recognize Connection.

Connected and turned to "on",
Jan M. Olsen
~J~

My friend's mom, Donna writes:

Sorry to take so long on this. Dad and I actually took a class on this way back when Father Jim was at Holy Cross. Lots of people still use the old man in the white robe with a long white beard and hair to match. Lots of people use a cross when they pray. For some reason I use a mountain. I think because it is strong, stable and chances of it going anywhere are pretty slim.

I would be interested to know what some other people see – just curious.

Love,

Mom

Tommy writes:
I see God in a white robe with His hands spread wide to welcome home His children who were good and faithful servants. I see me as falling short daily trying to carry out His will. We all fall short of the glory of God....thank goodness for His sufficient Grace He has on us!

Peter writes:

WHEN YOU SEE G-D, WHAT DO YOU SEE? PLEASE DESCRIBE IT…

Okay, here goes (slighted edited and updated, 7/15/11)…

Sometimes I “see” God, sometimes I “feel” God.  When I do my healing work, I “see” with my feeling hands, with my heart, and with my soul.  How about re-phrasing the question to “What do you experience when you experience God?  Please bear with me…

I encounter God in the celebratory song of the birds outside my window as I awake each morning.  I voice a prayer to God as I arise, giving thanks for another day, another breath. I see God in that very breath ~ the breath of life ~ and in meditation and in prayer.  God tickles my nose and dazzles my eyes with flowers that burst forth and dance in the breeze that rolls across the lake.  The breath of God caresses my face as I step forth into the morning sun (or the morning rain). 

I find God in music ~ in the chants I sing, in the symphonies of Beethoven and Mahler, in a Puccini opera, in a simple acoustic guitar riff.  I see God in the smile of a stranger, the cry of a child, the infectious laughter of a group of friends engaged in spirited conversation.  I connect with God in deliberate worship: in my Kundalini Yoga class; in my Sacred Circle; in the Kabalistic, mystical song and dance of Temple Adath Or.  It doesn’t matter where I worship ~ in church, temple, home or out in the woods, on a lake, stream, on top of a mountain.  God is omnipresent.  I’m at one with the Quakers, who speak of the Christ within, the Light within. 

I connect with God when I do my healing work, getting out of the way and letting the healing energy flow through me.  I become the Lightworker conduit.

From a Judaic perspective, God is the Force that makes it possible to not let existing reality constrain our visions.   The whole point of Judaism is that there really is a Force or Power in the universe (we call it YHVH or “Adonai” or “HaShem”), a breath and spirit which makes it possible to move from “that which is” to “that which ought to be.”  That Force is what we celebrate when we talk about God.

But our task is not to speak of God, but to speak to God.  And for that, the ancient words still resonate, and so I sing and say Hallelu-Yah, praise to you, Yah, the breath and spirit of the universe.

GOD Is Everything

July 27, 2011

God Is Everything

When man has done all they can imagine or try,  he comes back to God is everything.  I continue to ask people * what they see when they see God and * what they see of themselves.  The questions have been passed around.  Many demographics are represented, and more responses are still being emailed to me.

Reading these heartfelt answers of each person’s individual experience and belief with God, I became sensitized to all surrounding me.  I already have a firm foundational belief system in place.  But letting the views of my friends, their friends and families  stir me, I have become more aware of God in daily living. Inspired and humbled, I turn as I always have to almighty God and give HIM praise and my expressions of gratitude.

My own letter, began in the early stages of these conversations.  I have added to it as days go on, but the initial belief is the main thread.  Lately though, as my senses and curiosities became heightened,   I ask myself “Is THIS God?  What about THIS?”

Is GOD in the ocean, when I stand flatfooted on the sea floor, water above my head, eyes open to the life teeming around me?  That was both grounding and liberating.

Is God in the helpless newborn, who instinctively turns towards body warmth, nuzzling, seeking sustenance and reassurance?

Is GOD in the winds, storms, and their aftermath?

Is GOD the plane itself? Or the clouds?  Or the tarmac?

He is all of that and more. 

He is everything.

Here are several responses included to the questions “When you see God, what do you see?  How do you see yourself?”

Everything,

Jan M. Olsen

~J~

Mark writes:

Simple:

God is everything! Everything! All that we want and all that we do not.
Our challenge is to see everything as God and be grateful for it no matter
what it looks like, to love it no matter how it shows up, and to forgive
ourselves for every judging any part of God, including ourselves, as less
than Godly.

Mostly, easier said than done, but my view of God nonetheless.

God is all things --- Unity! Separation is an illusion of the human
condition.


:)

Marilyn writes:

Well...now there's a question you don't get asked everyday...let's see....today at this time I believe that God is Reality...what appears good and what appears bad. But that most of what does appear for us is just an illusion....I believe we are very slowly as a species in the still beginning stages of waking up from the illusions of good and bad. I believe that trying to put a definition of God into words is probably impossible but think that when we can get ourselves out of the way we can experience Reality as Bliss.

"Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field...I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass;

The world is too full to talk about,

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other,

doesn't make any sense."

Rumi

in answer to "when you see God how do you see yourself?" innocent....safe....at peace.

Yes you may share my answers with others.

I would love for you to share some of the other answers with me!

love ya!

Marilyn

My view- Jan writes:

I see God as being everything.  He is in all, is all, everything that was and is to come. Eternal, with no beginning or end.  Everywhere at once, all knowing, all powerful.  When God spoke, form separated from the deep.  The void became alive, and in distinct properties that still retain all the qualities of its Creator.

In my limited view, I feel God in my very marrow.  I know scientists break us down to cells, molecules, DNA.  In my simple embracing of God as being my everything, I honor him as being the fire that’s shut up in my bones.  The center of my growth, life, death,  He is the regeneration of new when the old expires and is no more.  He created me and he will finish what he has begun.

When God created man, He formed him out of the dust into his own image. Then He personally breathed the life sustenance in him, and man became a soul, spirit, body.  With my every longing, I strain to be that united with God again. That pure. That much as he desires me to be.

I see me as a flawed cup or vessel.  I am incomplete, until I am in the Master’s hands. Then all my cracks and mars are filled with Him anew, and He floods me to overflowing.  Only in redemption and resurrection do I have hope of being whole in Him.  He however, sees me pure, redeemed, clean and whole. He sees what is Possible.

He is my peace, my hope, my reason, my rhyme and all the direction I ever need to know.  With God as my beginning and as my end, my living tries to reflect that with every breath or heartbeat. When I rest and recharge? I rest in an eternal, safe hand of God. He provides, He nurtures, He grows, He loves, He holds me when no one else will.  Fearfully and wonderfully made, He heals my fissures and tired cells, transforming me into His likeness again, when I stumble in a dark world and soil this temple in selfish human err.

He is everything, therefore He is both Lion of Judah, majestic  king, and sacrificial Lamb of God. He doesn’t change, not his mind, his attributes, or his person. Immutable and constant.  He is the great I AM.

God is the warmth and aroma I sense when His light fills my truck, and upon His word, my crushing mountains are cast into the sea.

For me He is my reason, my calling, my breath, my source, my one true love. He is my all in all. My muse, my one true north. All I ever dream of being or hope to attain.