God again...

I actually get a kick out of trying to define “God.” I guess in a way I'm always searching for answers, and also trying to find the best definitions of that creative awesome force that we call “God.”

I'm reading Peace Pilgrim again, the book compiled by some of "her friends" - "Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words.” I love this book! Check the site dedicated to her and her work: www.peacepilgrim.org (you can even download an electronic copy of this book here: Peace Pilgrim Book). In one of the chapters you can read something she said about God: “Intellectually I touched God many times as truth and emotionally I touched God as love. I touched God as goodness. I touched God as kindness. It came to me that God is a creative force, a motivating power, an over-all intelligence, an ever-present, all-pervading spirit — which binds everything in the universe together and gives life to everything. That brought God close. I could not be where God is not. “You are within God. God is within you.” Peace used to say “Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.” Powerful messages!

Another favorite writer, Chuck Gallozzi wrote:
“By being ever mindful of the nearness of God, our hearts are filled with gratitude. Bitterness is replaced with happiness. The greater our awareness of Him, the lesser our attachment to the things of the world. With detachment, insatiable greed and frustration are replaced by serenity. When we live as though we believe in God by practicing His love, our example inspires others to do the same and spread the happiness everyone yearns for.”

Jalal Al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) wrote, “By practicing God's remembrance your inner being will be illumined little by little and you will achieve some measure of detachment from the world.”

Menachem Mendel Schneerson said: “Connecting to God is the only way to truly free yourself from fear. By recognizing that you are an integral part of God’s plan, that your existence is significant and your participation is vital, you can wean yourself of the doubts that feed your fears.”

Joshua Loth Liebman wrote in his book “Peace of Mind”: “We can master fear through faith — faith in the worthliness of life and the trustworthiness of God; faith in the meaning of our pain and our striving, the confidence that God will not cast us aside but will use each one of us as a piece of priceless mosaic in the design of His universe.”

Millions of people have had “near death experiences." These people were pronounced “clinically dead” and when they came back to life, they said what they experienced “in the light” was a “higher intelligence” — they feel they were in the presence of God.

They felt unconditional love, caring and compassion beyond what they had ever known. There was knowledge of everything, their questions were answered instantly. They understood the whole of everything. They were part of the whole and the whole was part of them, everything is connected to everything. The whole was God. He was the “oneness” of all creation.

Susie Shellenberger wrote: “Think of God as an eternal power outlet. When you take time to plug in to his power, you automatically receive new energy, new life, new power. Trying to run on reserve can only be temporary. A run-down person is unproductive and ineffective. Just as our physical bodies need to be replenished, our souls also need to be revived.”

I firmly believe that too, that God is like an amazing Power Source. We can choose to be connected to that source, by tapping into the energy of God and being “in the light” or to be disconnected and live “in darkness”. It’s really up to us — we have a choice (we always have a choice!). We can be like a plant or flower who, desperately needs the sun and yet, never gets that needed sunlight because it was placed in a dark area (in darkness) — so it withers and dies; or like the sunflower who follows the light wherever it goes and gets enough sunshine. This plant will be beautiful, strong and happy, and admired by all. What is your choice?