Noticing, Not Performing by Bryan Holmes

By Bryan Holmes

EVERYTHING - We believe that all of life — food, friends, work, money, pleasure, sleep — is spiritual. We do not fragment our lives; we live with a growing understanding that everything we do relates to God.

When I was first learning about Imago Dei, this directive was one of the things that caught my attention. I had so often been in spaces that separated the spiritual and the secular, usually dumping anything secular in the “evil” pile of things to be avoided at all costs. This view of the world had never made sense to me, because it didn’t match what I saw in my day-to-day life. Books had profound truths to teach me, even if they weren’t for sale at the Christian book store. Friends who never darkened the door of a church were kind, generous and showed love without a second thought. A leaf caught my eye and prompted a quiet “Thank you” without any mandatory scripture passages. At Imago, they were saying out loud what I’d been feeling for so long. God isn’t confined to certain buildings on certain days with certain people. The Divine spills over into every aspect of our lives.

I embraced this idea, but because I’m human, I swung too far in the opposite direction. I started to feel like my job was to encounter God in a powerful way all the time, in every moment. If I wasn’t constantly seeing God in every fluffy cloud, song lyric, bowl of soup and paper clip, I was not being spiritual enough. I traded one set of expectations for another, and soon I was once again missing the point, just using different vocabulary. We had an excellent discussion about this idea in the Imago Story class a few weeks ago, and it was a good reminder that noticing God is an invitation, not an obligation.

I do believe that God shows up all around us, all the time, and I’m working on my noticing skills. I want to be open and mindful enough to see the ways that God is moving, but that doesn’t mean that every moment will be full of significance and a powerful “spirit story”. Sometimes, I’ll notice God in the grocery story. Sometimes I’ll just buy a box of cereal. Sometimes I’ll see God in a TV show that I love. Sometimes I’ll just stare at the screen for 22 minutes. Sometimes I’ll encounter a human who reflects God in a surprising way that stops me in my tracks. Sometimes I’ll just wish that particular human would stop using their speaker phone in a public place. 

All of these experiences are good. You don’t have to have a God-worthy epiphany that smacks you in the face and pushes you to post online with a beautiful photo and moving music in the background. God is in all of it. The exciting and the mundane. The moving and the ordinary. And you don’t have to perform by constantly sitting on a spiritual mountaintop every time a squirrel runs across your path.

If you’re using your meaning journal throughout the week, I hope you don’t feel pressured to constantly write profound and beautiful things. Small, ordinary words count, too, and God is just as present in those moments. I hope you take some time to just sit with your day and write about whatever pops into your head. Don’t put pressure on yourself. You can’t do this the wrong way. Just notice and let the Spirit show up in everything.

You’re invited.