God Is Present

The Cross Carries.

God is ever present in the people and the world around us and yet a lot of the time we fail to spot His presence. When all is well we are very quick to thank God and praise his name. The question I ask is this – How many of us are able to praise God when things do not go the way we planned when the world seems to be plotting against us … or when we face a bereavement? It’s a hard thing to do sometimes. Our human nature is to doubt and to question. Even Jesus’ twelve closest friends, otherwise known as the disciples, doubted and questioned.

God has worked wonders in all of our lives, this is plain to see. What is also clear to see is that we often walk by the blessings that God has bestowed upon us. Unless they are what one would call a ‘Wow’ moment, we tend to not notice. Again, this is another natural human element. We become immune and monetised. We wait for the out of the ordinary, that we do not see the wonders in the ‘ordinary’.

I work in a local supermarket and there are many joys and challenges in the work that I do. I have a great team around me who constantly strive to do the best they can. I have fabulous management who do everything in their power to make me feel at home and enjoy working there. It is a true blessing to have been gifted this role. Sure, I may not feel this way every day when I am ill or disheartened, but there is that constant reminder that God is working in the people around me.

A few days ago, we had a particularly large amount of work to do and could not call for extra support. It meant that we had to pull our socks up and try extra hard to complete the task given. It seemed impossible. We were each given a specific target by our leader that day. Now I admit, it was a day where I was not feeling my best and when I heard of the large target that I was set to complete, I was not best pleased. I felt completely discouraged. I was battling an illness that day and was finding it hard enough as it was without another task to worry of.

However, God equips us. I prayed to the Holy Spirit to come to me and fill me with all that I would need to do the task set. I suddenly felt encouraged, lively, and very much filled with a joyous determination to get the task done. The target which I first thought to be a curse, was actually a blessing in disguise. It perked me up and set me up for the busy day I had ahead with my parish and family.

My challenge, to myself and to all, is as follows. To see where God is in our lives, not just in the extraordinary, but in the ordinary also.

God, our Father, I ask that you constantly keep us awake and open to see you in everything we do, everything we see and everything that is around us.