Upper-Case
God
“When
we talk about goodness, an animating intelligence in the universe and in our
hearts or a pervasive positive unity or presence, we are not talking about an
old, bearded guy in the sky, Parvati, or a Jewish Palestinian baby. We are
talking about a higher power, a power that might be called Not Me, a kindness,
a patience, a hope, which is everywhere, even in our annoying, self-centered,
fraudulent selves.”
Anne
Lamott (Almost Everything: Notes on Hope, p.125)
Some of
us have trouble with what I call “the god of parking spaces.” That is the god
who is always looking out for the “good” guys, who never lets them get hurt or
fail or have a tornado snatch their home away from them. In Alabama, that god
prevails—I hear regularly on the local news some survival story that happened
because “the lord was looking after us.” Their neighbor, whose house blew away,
not so much. For me, that is the lower-case god.
The Upper-Case God is
something altogether different. It is a prevailing positive presence; a non-judgmental
energy; a powerful force that animates all living beings and the earth itself. It
does not judge, does not pick and choose, does not protect some of us from harm
while ignoring others, does not infuse certain people with special powers, and
will not intervene in our daily affairs—especially when we do stupid stuff. If
we align our hearts with the Upper-Case God, it will infuse us with courage and
strength. It will also infuse those who do not believe in it with the same degree
of strength and courage. Not because we or they are good or bad, and not
because we deserve help and protection more than others, but because this power
is universal, available to all in equal measure.
Call me a heretic if you
must, but I believe Jesus also believed in the Upper-Case Source and called
upon it for strength and courage. He knew that by invoking its presence within
himself, and by being a channel for it, people healed through faith. He knew this
Higher Power was stronger than hate and greed and fear, and, in fact, that it
was allied with, and bound to, love. It is benign and benevolent and gentle. Jesus
made himself vulnerable because he knew that vulnerability is stronger than violence.
And, truly, when we are infused with the energy of the Upper-Case God, we just
do not have it in us to be hate-filled.
I hope you encounter the
Upper-Case God today. The best place to feel its presence is outside in this
beautiful fall weather. Let it fill you with hope.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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