I am married to a man who can't find anything. I can describe to him in detail where to locate a particular item, he will go in that room, wander around aimlessly looking, only to return and tell me the item is not there. I will then walk directly in, go to the precise place I so carefully specified and find the item within seconds. I used to think he did this just so that I would stop asking him to get things for me, but then I started to go with him just to see. I watched him search under, over, and all around the spot never being able to find the intended item. This exchange has happened so many times that I developed a catch phrase for it. It now simply feels like a reflex to say, "Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there!"
I read an article in the USA Today this week that has me thinking. It was on Tues, Sept. 22, 2009 in the Life Section, page 7D and was entitled "15% now check 'no religion'" by Cathy Lynn Grossman. According to an 18 year survey directed by Trinity College based on a sampling of 54,000 adults, 15% of Americans now say they have no religious identity. Just over 1100 of those people were surveyed more closely to determine their specific views on God. The results of this more finite survey indicated that 21% of those men and 36% of the women definitely believe in a personal God. There was another segment (25% men and 22% women) who recognized a higher power, but no personal God. The rest of the people surveyed were either unsure or certain that God does not exist at all.
I respect every person's right to make decisions and judgments for themselves. I have a high regard for religious freedom and tolerance in this country. I witness on a daily basis families who sacrifice significantly to protect that freedom. But because of what I have experienced in my own personal life, I am inclined to say, "Just because you don't see Him, doesn't mean He isn't there."
I have witnessed His hand guiding my family throughout the years. I have seen Him lead me to specific people, places and even books when I have needed guidance or help or inspiration. I have seen Him inspire other people to be attuned to my needs and minister to me in loving ways. I have observed His tender care in the creation of beautiful things in this world. I have participated in the miraculous experience of childbirth three times. I have watched Him save, at different times, the lives of each of my children in marvelous ways. I have seen Him in the sorrow of death and loss. I have seen Him in the shadows of tragedy. I have seen Him in darkness, despair and grief, carrying me through the suffering to the other side where hope lives.
I know God lives. I know that He loves His children. I know that He is a very personal God who is interested and involved in the very details of our lives. He wants us to keep looking, keep searching, keep hoping.
Just because you cannot see Him, doesn't mean He isn't there.
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4 comments:
I love this post. Maybe because you've written my thoughts! I love how you said, "Just because you can't see him, doesn't mean He isn't there". I have really felt the hand of the Lord in my life and really seen tender mercies everyday. I am so thankful that He loves all of us and He is there.
I'm so happy you are writing again on your blog. I've missed your uplifting and inspiring posts!
How did Paul put this? "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
I did a whole RS lesson on this basic idea a few years back. I had just seen the movie at the JS building in which the central theme is, "I don't need to see him to know he is a prophet," which is what a female convert says to her non-believing father as they journey from England to Nauvoo. She shares her restoration testimony and in the end he is convinced. They arrive in Nauvoo just hours after the martyrdom.
She is broken-hearted. Her father's reply? "You don't need to meet him to know he's a prophet."
Anyway, I taught the lesson in an older ward in Utah, where people had been members for generations and many of our women remembered when the church passed the million mark. I asked them to share stories of the prophets and apostles they had met--they were absolutely amazing. (One is vivid--a sister had played jump rope with Harold B. Lee when he stayed at her house because her dad was the Stake President.) Then, after so many wonderful stories, we talked about passing such stories on to our children because as the Church grows they may not be blessed with similar experiences, but it is our oral and written tradition that gives us our grounding the gospel: that allows us to feel the spirit so that we too can gain testimony.
I think it is the same with God as we teach our children. When we have these marvelous experiences with God's daily tender mercies, we need to tell our kids so that they too understand that we don't have to see Him to know He is there. Always, eternally, there.
How embarrassing. I've just POSTED on YOUR blog. You are going to be sorry you asked me to look in. :) But this post was so beautifully written that it just set the wheels in motion. Thanks. (This is Nan btw.)
Oh, and as a funny side note: When we couldn't find things my mother would say "If I find it, do I get to hit you?" This was hilarious because she never laid a finger on any of us. Lots of playful whacking however . . .
I'm so glad you're writing again!
Amen, Sister!
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