Clay in the Hands

I read a blog post earlier this week from Glenn Packiam entitled, “Practicing the Wrong Presence.”  (You can link to it here).  In that post, Glenn makes the point that we often say we want to experience God’s presence.  But in reality, God is always present.  You quite possibly have heard me say or read when I have written that we should not think of God’s presence as something that comes and goes.  We don’t “come into the presence of God.”  We should rather think of it as being sensitive to God’s presence.

I love the way Glenn uses the word presence to make this point.  He states that the issue isn’t whether or not God is present with us, but rather whether or not we are present with God.  You see, God will never leave nor forsake us – God is always with us.  The question we need to ask ourselves is “Are we present with God.”

Have you ever been talking to someone and you can tell they are distracted or maybe thinking more about what they are going to say next than actually listening to you.  Doesn’t that drive you crazy (if I have done that to you lately – I apologize!)?  Trying to talk to someone who is not present mentally or emotionally is very frustrating and not very meaningful for either party involved.

Don’t do that to God!

Practice being present to God and to others today – you won’t regret it (and neither will those around you).