Where Are You?

This “poem” was triggered by a conversation with a friend.  I cannot now remember all the details of that conversation but it went along the lines of “despite all the looking, I don’t know how or where to find God.”

From my own experience I do agree that God can seem elusive and very often it is a step of faith which initiates our experience of Him rather than a step of absolute conviction.  As time goes by I realise that I find less of God in the Church and more of Him in my heart and in other people, often those unconnected with the church.  God exists, I have no doubt of that but He is, in my opinion, portrayed incompletely by the Church.

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I’ve been looking for You for a while now, God, seeking You out in the hidden places
Looking for You in tear stained faces, calling Your name in the dark.

I’ve been looking for You in the grand cathedrals, in the pages of books, dusty and torn
It seems I’ve been searching since I was born.

Where do You hide?  And why, I wonder.  Inaccessible, gone from view
If I searched the whole wide world, where oh God would I find You?

Perhaps in the East, amongst the tourists, in the temple of Jerusalem
Or on that hillside, place of the skull, do You dwell there now as You did then?

Are You in heaven, looking down?  Seeing our struggles, watching our search
Will I find You if by chance I happen on the perfect Church?

Do You want to be found God?  Is this a game of hide and seek?
How long must I look, how long before You speak?

Prove Yourself God!  Come on out of the safety of wherever You are, come and touch my life - and I, in turn will touch those scarred and nail torn hands.

God, where are You in my struggles, in my grief, my loss, my hunger for the truth?
Come and reveal to me the greatness of Your resurrection power, come and relieve my aching heart, come and set me free to dance, to rejoice, to believe, to see…

To see the reality of Jesus, to dwell in the presence of the Most High God.
Where are You?  Where are You?  Where are You?


And God replies-

I am here, I am the breath of wind upon your face, the sunshine that warms you, the snow that makes your fingers tingle with cold.

I am the food you eat, the sustenance you need to survive, I am the roof over your head, the warmth of the fire in the centre of your home.

I am the tears you cry and the laughter that resounds.  I am your hope.  But most of all I am Love.

Not that I do love or I am capable of loving - although these are true - but that I AM love, the very essence of my being is love, my very nature is love.

Each time you celebrate love, you celebrate me.  Your kisses, your hugs, the ones you hold close to you - the expression of your love is the expression of all that I am.

Your friends, your family, the one whose hand you hold as they cry, the one you embrace in the middle of the night when you feel alone, the one you reach for - proof of me, a demonstration of all that is good.

The one you call your lover, the one who sees you truly naked - not of garments but of all that you portray to the world in order to survive - that is love, and I am love and I am in all you do which is loving.

You say you do not know me, but you do.  You know me in every kind word, every gesture of tenderness, every tear you wipe away, every time you say, “I love you”, you prove that you do know me.

Now, come, let me embrace you in the fullness of love such as you have never known before.  A love that will never fail you, never disown you, never let you down, never cause you pain.  A love that is all consuming and all encompassing and all knowing and all providing and ALL that you could ever need.

How?  It’s easy! Talk to me, accept that you were never intended to struggle alone, accept that the way to me is easy, and I am closer than you think.  All you have to do, is come to me.  I am waiting for you.