Moving Along

A person says to me, “I used to be close to God, and now I cannot find God.”  They wonder if perhaps God does not really exist for them, or they are doing something wrong, or God has abandoned them because of their imperfections.  When I inquire where they are looking for God, often I hear that they are looking where they used to find God.  They are going backwards to when they were younger, to try and conjure up old experiences.  A problem with all this is that we are no longer that child.  We are growing spiritually, even if we do not know it.  What I mean is that our adult or senior age self has moved its spiritual center  away from where it was as a child.  God has not left them.  Their God is right there with them, but they are searching for a past self and time that is truly past.  I don’t pray like I used to.  My routines change and shift as I grow older.  It is natural growth.  I try to ask, “What can I do for you Lord?”  I used to ask, “What can you do for me?”  The first question requires more listening.  The second question is more about my list of things I want from God, with all the pleading words I use for attention and sincerity.  Both questions are fair and good at a certain time.  But at some point I think we are supposed to become more a listener.  I have found it so.