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I just got back from\u00a0two weeks of rest and relaxation in\u00a0Woodstock, NY. Nestled in the Catskill Mountains, the picturesque scenery saturated my\u00a0soul\u00a0with a spirit of tranquility. The mornings were especially serene as I was surrounded by\u00a0God’s presence\u00a0within the stillness.<\/p>\n
I had no idea how much I needed it, or\u00a0how heavy my spirit\u00a0had become, until about a week after arriving I began to feel the pressure ease. The weight of our collective\u00a0troubles\u00a0– the hatred, killings, racism, and terrorism –\u00a0had started to\u00a0suffocate me.\u00a0Like so many of you, I’d begun\u00a0to embrace fear and lose\u00a0hope, doubting things would ever really change. It wasn’t until I started seeing God in everything, that I was reminded that\u00a0He\u00a0can do anything.<\/p>\n
Yes,\u00a0with Him anything<\/em> is possible. Even the things we fear most have solutions. The trick though is learning to see\u00a0God as a part of our everyday life.\u00a0I know that sounds a bit kooky, and not even close to a plan of action, but follow along and you’ll see what I mean.<\/p>\n When I arrived in Woodstock my first\u00a0observation was that it was a little weird – beautiful landscape but full of things I’d only ever seen in movies.\u00a0Driving into town\u00a0was like entering a time warp, with\u00a0tie dye t-shirts blowing in the breeze and hippies walking down the street grooving to music no one else could hear.\u00a0On the single main street there were four tattoo parlors,\u00a0at least three places where you could get a reading, and a host of other locations offering spiritual enlightenment. There was even a thriving Wiccan community that was offering spell casting classes that Tuesday. I was so tempted to sign up, but I skipped it,\u00a0this time.<\/p>\n Like I said…weird, a little different, and just\u00a0odd enough to make you\u00a0feel uncomfortable, perhaps even afraid. That tends to be our first reaction to things we don’t understand, most especially other people. We get dismissive, try to put some distance between us and them, and eventually, because we just don’t get it, we deem their different as deficient. After all, we are the normal ones.<\/p>\n We follow the rules, color inside the lines, and grow up trying to be\u00a0acceptable, so that we can belong. We are the mainstream, and anyone too far outside our norm – well they’re just weird.<\/p>\n That’s how 99% of us unconsciously view life. We like the norm, our\u00a0“safe space” where we’re all the same. We’ve even created a\u00a0common goal\u00a0– the American dream<\/a>\u00a0– to make sure we all have the same standard of success.\u00a0But after a week or so of hanging out in Woodstock, \u00a0the Spirit challenged my\u00a0perspective.<\/p>\n I woke up early one morning and went\u00a0outside to write. As usual I was awe-struck by the scenery, only this time what really caught my attention was all the different shades of blue I could see in the sky. I looked down at the grass and it too featured a variety of different hues.\u00a0Sitting there enjoying the moment,\u00a0I realized nature was sending me a message.<\/p>\n See how everything is\u00a0different but peacefully enjoys\u00a0the same space? That’s the\u00a0plan for you humans too. Stop trying to find what’s the same, and instead celebrate what’s different. Learn to appreciate\u00a0the unique attributes\u00a0of God\u00a0in everyone, then you’ll be at peace with each other.<\/em><\/p>\n Huh, well that would certainly be a switch. Instead of searching for the proverbial “common ground,” to let being God’s creation be our common denominator. Could that really work?<\/p>\n Well, when I went back into town the next day I realized that it already had. The proof was in Woodstock – a place where the hippies and progressives were at\u00a0peace with one another. On\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0I shared a video\u00a0from a communal drumming session that highlights\u00a0what I’m talking about.<\/p>\n Shopkeepers, silent dancers, farmers and aspiring\u00a0actors all co-existing\u00a0together in a place they call home. They don’t see each other as weird. Instead they’re just all\u00a0doing their own thing, in their own unique way, and allowing other people to do the same – without fear, judgement, or pressure to conform. It’s a beautiful picture of what nature has been teaching us all along – how God’s diverse creation can live together in harmony, when we recognize each other’s divine design.<\/p>\n Just\u00a0imagine if the whole country embraced that notion, if we practiced\u00a0seeing God in everything, and valuing all of His creation as special and important. Wow…what a change it would make in what we see on the news, and how freeing it would be for us as individuals.<\/p>\n