It could hardly be a more wonderful day. Autumn is almost upon us, summer is saying “uncle” as the leaves start to change colour and the fall coolness settles in. A gentle rain falls down from a cloudy sky. And it all looks so lovely from the vantage point of a big picture window here at the downtown coffee shop with the pretty waitress with the even prettier smile. It occurs to me that God is both imminent, right here, and transcendant, more than we can fully fathom. God lives within me and I am in fact an expression of the divine, but He is also more. Having a relationship with this God means that I have access to levels of power that sometimes we only dream of. God is all good, and every positive attribute that we see in existence comes from Him (or Her if you prefer.) Beauty, energy, life, healing, music, love. As we are in relationship with God, we need only to ask for these things to show up in our lives. Too often, I think, we settle for less than that. We settle for sickness, depression, fear, brokenness, worry. As people in relationship with God we can ask for and expect more. There are scores of verses in the Christian Scriptures where Jesus points to this great truth. He says that God is like a parent who desires to give good gifts to his children, and that whatever we ask for in prayer, believe that we have received it and it will be done. This is not magic, some sideshow busker act. This is connecting with the Power that brought the universe into existence and who knows our needs even more than we do, for He made us. It is when we are in harmonious relationship with God and are experiencing these gifts - peace, joy, love, health, that we can also become conduits of God’s power. We can be love and peace to those people in our immediate circles and beyond. God’s energy can flow through us to other people in need. As we talk with others we impart power to them. As we hug them we are God touching them in a soothing way.As Autumn approaches and we shuffle through our closets to find our sweaters and scarves, let’s learn to ask for and expect more. More love, more energy, more peace, and more healing.
