Where do you see God? What reminds you to praise Him, to talk to Him, to acknowledge Him? When are you prompted to pray?
For some lucky people, reminders are not needed. God is ever-present in their lives and they have worked hard I’m sure to get that relationship to the point that God is always at the front of their minds. For many of us, we can go a day (or much longer) without talking to God. We go about our lives without thinking of Him or interacting with Him. We reach out to God when something goes wrong, or when we are in a Christian setting (at church or at a house group, for example). And we reach out to God when we are reminded of Him.
For me, reminders of God come most often through nature. I remember God when I see something that makes me wonder, something beautiful, something that is much more obviously God-made than man-made.
I love to walk. I walk a short 10-15 minutes along the tow-path almost every morning, and I often walk much further than that in the evenings on my way home. Each morning, as I walk, I come to a slight bend in the river. It is nothing especially spectacular or breath-taking, but the way the trees hang over the river, the way the sky, whatever it shows that day, is reflected in the water, somehow reminds me of God. And in turn, that reminds me to say hello to Him, to ask Him for strength for the day, for something of Him that day, and for a chance to do His will that day.
That’s a small example. When I get the chance to step out of the familiarity of my daily walk, God becomes that much more present in my mind. I think it is because I can see His work more clearly. I’m sure for others their reminder of God comes through people and their actions, through reading the Bible, through music, art, literature, science, family, friends and many other things besides. God’s work can be seen in every aspect of the world as we experience it. I think we just need to start looking for it.
But back to nature. I’m sure that response of seeing God in nature is stronger in some than in others, but I don’t think many people can deny the glory of God’s creation when seeing some of the snippets of beauty that He has created for us. I led a house group session last summer on “wonder”. We talked about the concept, watched a film clip on it, and then went for a walk. We went over to Minster Woods in Godalming, to the site of the old chapel, where there is a small garden and a statue of Mary. We spent 15 minutes just talking to God, on our own, and wondering at his creation. We remembered the importance of simply revelling in the wonder that is God’s creation.
I’d encourage you to do that too. Take time to go to a place where there is more of God than there is of man, where you can see the sky and plants and where the ground beneath your feet is soil or mud rather than concrete or tarmac. Breathe in deeply, and thank God. Don’t ask Him for things, or tell Him about your day, at least not at first. Thank Him, for the gift of nature and the beauty that we get to enjoy directly from God. And maybe, if you are lucky enough, like me, to have some “nature” as part of your daily routine, start building up a habit. When you walk past something wonderful that was made by God, thank Him, and then just talk to Him.
And if you’d like to share, I would so love to hear what it is that reminds you to talk to God, or where it is that you notice His hand most keenly.