One of the things we have observed since moving here last year is that this place is extremely beautiful. The sunsets are especially pretty with colors of gold and yellow dancing on the water of the lake.  The peach sunrises with all of the fowl of the area slowly awakening are spectacular, as are the mountains, the craters, and the beautiful forests.  People ask us why we drive for hours to conferences and to workplaces?  Seeing all of this beauty is a treat and a real blessing.  God is truly all-around, permeating nature and life. It is awesome.  I remind myself to give thanks because it might be easy to start taking this magnificent beauty for granted.

          It’s easy to see that of God in the beautiful. That feeling of awe is our mental recognition of the spiritual aspect of something — which should lead to us being thankful for all of our blessings that are all around us. So that we may be aw-filled and our lives can be “awe-some.”   When we are taken aback by the natural beauty or the look of a young baby, or even when we feel pride in our children’s accomplishments, we can immediately feel grateful. It then becomes a spiritually grounding and growing act in our lives.   Imagine if every time you were awe struck you stepped back and communed with that of God in that moment — imagine how much more centered and rich your life could feel.  Imagine looking for things to be awe struck by, moments that bold you over, laughter that leaves your ribs hurting.  In these are God or good in the moment.

 Seeing God as imbued in all the natural world is a very old Celtic idea.  Phillip Newell, a modern day writer on Celtic Spirituality says, “The Celtic tradition invites us to look with the inner eye.  In all people, in all places, in every created thing the light of God is shining.  It may lie buried and forgotten under layers of darkness and distortion but it is there waiting to be recovered.”

          Sometimes finding that of God in a place or person, or event isn’t as easy as appreciating a sunset.  Sometimes it is appreciating the sun when it is covered by clouds or smoke, or even appreciating the sun when it is dark outside because it is night.  Sometimes we have to use our imaginations to find the awe in something. The Scottish 19^th century novelist, George MacLeod said that at best we are only able to see the shadows of God’s light and that in these shadows flows the life through all of creation and even through ourselves. In one of his prayers, MacLeod says, “Show to us glory in the grey,” which for him was found in the poorest of poor in the slums of Glasgow. This Celtic belief in that of God in all was made known by theologians as early as the fourth century Pelagius and the ninth century John Scotus Eriugena who both taught that it is the God Force in all things that is God, not a theistic entity in the sky.  So our Quaker roots of belief in that of God in all predates by a thousand years George Fox and his beliefs. 

It is a Celtic belief that was considered a heresy after St. Augustine declared that all of creation was wicked and came from the seed of sin.  This was made church law in 418 AD. This was the theory of original sin – that the sin of Adam and Eve created flaws from one generation to the next.  It didn’t hurt that St. Augustine also decided that people could be forgiven of this original sin by giving money to the church, and the more they gave, the more sins were forgiven by the church.  This is where the idea of penance also originated and helped lead to the dark ages.

But through time, the source of the belief of God in all remained in the British Isles to be reborn time and again among Celtic writers, poets, theologians and ministers.  It is an ancient Celtic idea that God is in all, even the most dull and most dismal and that all that is needed to get from seeing a rock in the ocean and appreciate the inner amethyst or agate is a will to see and to be seen by the Light of God.  Imaginations then help us spiritually to see the beauty in the mundane.  Like imagination, many of our skills can be used for spiritual grounding.

Our imaginations, abilities to problem solve, ability to appreciate, want to improve all then become acts of sacredness and increasing sanctity. Our lives of awe, full of curiosity and challenge, become our only necessary religious acts. This aspect of God raises the credibility that the science that frightens many fundamentalists is but another way to serve that of God in this world.  As is learning and mentoring and piquing curiosity and play in all people, not just children, but especially children and the child within.  Be positive. Show your curiosity.  Examine the world around you. Seek humor.  Giggle and play.  Helping another person to see the marvels that is nature or the fun that is science also helps this person to connect to the inner sacredness of beauty of this world.  We can’t outgrow this behavior as a sacred act of seeking and expressing awe and feeling gratitude for what we find.

Anne Lamott wrote in her book “Help, Thanks, Wow” that “The words “wow” and “awe” are the same height and width, all w’s and short vowels. They could dance together. Even when, maybe especially when, we don’t cooperate, this energy—the breath, the glory, the goodness of God—is given. Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, “Well, that’s pretty much what I thought I’d see,” you are in trouble. At that point, you have to ask yourself why you are even here. …Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.

So as you go about your lives this week, focus in on the good running through your body, or a scene, or a friend, or choose to get in touch with that feeling of awe at a sunset or in touch with the joy of a child’s laughter.  God is in all, and we have to only be open to recognize this and appreciate it and bask in the awe of this marvelous world.  Let your countenance show glory and curiosity, imagination and gratitude as you take in this beautiful gift called life.

Lamott, Anne. Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers (pp. 84-85). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Newell, J. Philip. The Book of Creation: An introduction to Celtic Spirituality (pp 8-10) Paulist Press, New York