The 13/14th century German theologian Meister Eckhart said:
“What our Lord did was done with the intent, and this alone, that he might be with us and we with him.”
So often God gets imagined like a distant deity who is disappointed in us [best case] or angry at us [worst case].
So often having a relationship with God is seen as nothing more than obeying a certain set of rules. We do what God says and we hope that keeps us out of trouble.
In Jesus, however, we get a picture of what God is really like. God wants to be present with us. In Jesus God took on human skin. He laughed and cried. He felt joy and pain. He is present to us.
Not so we can keep the rules better, but so that we can be transformed by his love.
Recently I heard someone ask the question, “are you present to God?”.
It took me by surprise. Most of my life, I have prayed that God would be present to me. What I have just started understanding is that God is present to me…but I am not always present to him.
One of the things I have been praying each morning is simply, “God, help me to be present to you today.”
I want my eyes open to experience the “Divine in the daily.” I want to be aware of his voice, his work, and everything that he wants to say/do/be in me and through me.
I have to admit, I fail at this more than I actually do it. But my prayer is that I will become more and more present to the God who is so present to me.
Are you going to be present to God today?
Josh Scott 
First of all, great new look to the blog. Secondly, great post.
Are we present to God? Over the past weeks, months and even years I have come to understand my relationship with God in a different way. It seems everything we do in our “daily” lives is reward based. Work hard, get paid. Drive fast, get a ticket. We have such a hard time understanding that Jesus changed the playing field. Don’t misunderstand this to mean I believe He removed the consequences of sin, because I don’t believe that.
I do believe that because time means nothing to God, at least not in the way it does to us, that the Father was able to collect all those sins covering all of time and place them on the back of His Son at one point in time. This allows for my relationship with the Father to be without embarassment of excuse. I can be totally present with Him, IF I CHOOSE TO. There is nothing to hide, that has not already been revealed to Him. He is here, I am here. We are here together but only if I choose to acknowledge Him, only if I open my eyes to Him. I have to choose to do so, moment by moment, thought by thought, reaction by reaction and deed by deed.
Thanks for such a great thought provoking post!
LikeLike
Harold- So glad you guys made it back from the trip. Can’t wait to hear your stories. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
LikeLike
Too many times, I can’t enjoy my relationship with God because I’m too busy trying to live up to
what I think He expects of me and falling way short. I love the thought that He is present with me and that He loves me just as much when I fall short as when I hit the mark.
Glad your back blogging, Josh. We enjoy it so much. Also, I like the look so much better this way.
LikeLike