11. God is with you everywhere.

“Some people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this. Others say they would be better off in church. If you do well, you do well wherever you are. If you fail, you fail wherever you are. Your surroundings don’t matter. God is with you everywhere — in the market place as well as in seclusion or in the church. If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you. God is not distracted by a multitude of things. Nor can we be.” ~ Meister Eckhart
In his retreat on Meister Eckhart James Finley used a metaphor about a tree to make this point. He said if we could know everything there is to know about a tree we would never need to go church again because if we reached that point, we would be as if we were God because only God can grasp that much knowledge. This statement hits me right at the core. I am so deeply drawn, of late, to silence and solitude I feel as thought I am not capable of being contemplative anywhere else.

Yesterday, I challenged that concept by beginning to seek a path into myself while sitting in a waiting room at a doctor’s office surrounded by all manner of distractions and then again while driving home from Great Falls, admittedly alone. Today I pursue the matter further by addressing matters of reflection while surrounded by an anthill of activity at work. While I am not as a effective at formulating my thoughts while tuning out the buzzing around me, I am actually getting there and it is clear that with more practice I will be even more adept at creating my own space of silence in a horn of noise.

God is with me everywhere. I am reminded of that particularly today as encounter people whom I value who are hurting and for whom I wish to be of service. God is not just in the thin places were I can presume to be able to think deep thoughts and reach lofty points of understanding but right where I am, wherever I am and whomever I am with at any point of time.