Exotic yet ordinary

I spent last weekend with Katie and Rick in Oklahoma City. I pestered them about the baby and baby names and the nursery, they treated me to a movie and Indian food and a book store and trivial pursuit. We laughed, we cried, we stayed up waaay too damn late. I'm so very glad they let me invite myself over.

On the way home from OKC, driving the final stretch of Highway 60 between Ponca City and home, I was looking around, listening to music, thinking random thoughts, when I noticed the sky, which was a brilliant blue, and the clouds and the patches of light and shadows across the fields and rolling hills, and the quiet (that I imagined) outside my car and I was so moved by it all that I actually started crying. I started crying because it made me think about God. More specifically, it made me think about God and the act of creating and God being present within and throughout His creation (including us), about God's presence in everything, everywhere, all around me, constantly, and how it is in God that we live and move and have our being. I have felt distant from God (off and on, but lately more on than off) for a while, and my experience on the drive home was really... hopeful. It reminded me that God does not withdraw his presence even if/when we distance ourselves. And it made me realize that because of God's omnipresence and God in all, I am surrounded by God, I am part of God, God is part of me, and I remember thinking it would be okay to go ahead and let go, even in death, because I will return to God. And that was very comforting.

Thanks for the great weekend.