I own a planner that, in addition to giving me the date and what I need to do that day, also tells me what the day is in the church calendar and the church holiday that is celebrated. I love seeing what obscure saint’s feast is taking place each day, and it gives me a sense of the sacred as I start my day. Today isn’t Wednesday; it’s the holiday of the Holy Cross! Having this kind of framework as I move into my day centers my life around God and gives me a theme to look for. And it gives me a convenient window to see God in the mundane workings of my life.
I have always found God in large cathedrals, in stained glass and beautiful frescoes. But as I have grown older, I have also increasingly found God in the small things. On Monday, I had a student that was determined to reach out to people about our Wesley kick-off events this week. After spending a day figuring out how to balance her job, classes, and social life during this semester of college, she spent a good portion of the night sending dozens of text messages and emails, trying to make sure that everyone felt personally invited to come see what the Wesley Foundation was about. God was certainly with that student, giving her fortitude as she sat in her apartment sending message after message. And the day after that, while I was attempting to bike back from CSU’s campus, both my bike tires simultaneously flattened. When I went into the bike repair shop, I saw a student that I hadn’t seen since fall semester of 2015, and I was able to reconnect with them just because I have a no-good cheap bike.
God is probably not physically reaching down and putting thumbtacks in my tires. Coincidences and little acts of human goodwill happen all the time. But I can still see God’s hands in the very average facts of life, shaping the world around me to be a little more holy. Every day is a holiday, with little glimpses of the sacred breaking through; how beautiful but also how challenging it is to view the world like this.
Georgia Metz
Director of the Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry