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Jim Krisher
In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul proclaims God as the one "in whom we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28) This intense nearness of God is fundamental in the biblical religions. Yet it's easy to slip into imagining God as detached and distant from our day to day experience. We may even act as if we need to get God's attention, or fill God in on what's been happening with us. Have we perhaps partitioned God off from parts of our lives - from our work, our family issues, our personal struggles, our sexuality, our parenting, our successes or failures? We don't need to try to bring God in - God's already there! We need to open our eyes to that luminous Presence already infusing our every moment. Indeed, as St. Augustine expresses it, God is "closer to us than we are to ourselves."
Jim Krisher is Director of the Spiritual Renewal Center, which offers spiritual direction and opportunities for growth in Christian spirituality. He is also an adjunct faculty member in theology at Le Moyne College.