Desperately Seeking the Divine!
Thinking back (and perhaps showing my age here) to the 80s film Desperately seeking Susan – sometimes we are driven to seek someone and go to extraordinary lengths. To what lengths do we go to seek God?
Every now and then I take myself out into nature (often with a camera) and it is there I feel the greatest connection with the Infinite. For me, that stepping into nature is a recharge of my spiritual batteries. There is something powerful about the crunch of dirt under your shoe, the sounds and (hopefully pleasant) smells of nature, and the feel of a fresh wind in your face. When travelling (other than Disney) my favourite moments have been in nature – Niagara Falls, Ben Nevis, Connemara and Yosemite are my absolute favourites. These stunning vistas always remind me of a greatness beyond me, a wisdom I strive for but cannot fathom, and a beauty that takes my inner breath away and reassures me that the world is indeed good!
My two favourite local places are Grange Beach with the dog before sunrise and the Adelaide Hills near sunset. Isn’t there something remarkable about watching those beginning and ending moments of light? Too often we encircle ourselves in this concrete jungle of urban life and need to go in search of the ‘transcendental experience’ (thank you Rahner) to open our spirit to the infinite horizon and absolute mystery that is the divine.
I’m sure we all have a space where we can go that allows our lungs to breathe in deeply the air of hope and possibility and connection with the Infinite Other who loves us.
The above two photos are of the same path with the passing of time. I love how the light hits the path as the sun is setting orange in the sky – it warms the vision. When contrasted with the darkness that a lack of light generates it does look more appealing. Light as an image for God is a powerful one for me and is probably why I find myself drawn to sunrise and sunset and those moments when the suns rays are so tangible around us and show the difference between dawdling in the dark to purposefully journeying in the light.
See if you can find a spot where the sun touches the earth and maybe there you will find that connection you seek. I always do. Sometimes you need to know where to go to find that moment. It’s a bit like netball. I’m a bit of a netty fan (just a smidge) and have spent many a moment coaching and watching netball. We talk about the connection between players when they feed the ball into the goal circle. It is as if one player knows where the other will be before she gets there (it’s a beautiful thing to see on court). I think seeking the connection with God is a bit like that – these netballers don’t just magically know – they have worked together to establish that connection. So too with God, we cannot expect it just to magically work – we need to work on knowing a bit more about ourselves and a bit more about God if we are to find that connection. How we do this varies from person to person but it takes time, commitment and work.
It is worth every second for that sense of connection is beyond price.
The Female Theologian 