The search for God

“Where do you find God?” A teacher began her moral instruction with this question to help her students discover the myriad ways in which to find God in their lives. There were a range of answers such as “God is everywhere” and “God is in places of worship.” But one boy said in disagreement, “God is in my bathroom.”

After the laughter in the class died down, he continued, “Every morning while I’m in the bathroom, my mom taps the door and says aloud, ‘My God, you are still in there!’” The joke brings a chuckle. It also drives home the truth that the search for God can be intriguing and no two persons can find God in exactly the same place. Though most people try to meet Him in their places of worship, God is in fact, found in a host of other places, most of which can be rather unexpected.

The hearty laughter of a child, a glorious sunrise, a spectacular sunset, the landscape of our beautiful earth, the bright blue sky, the vivid beauty in the flora and fauna of our universe all show us the magnificent face of the Creator of the human race and of the world.

We can also see God in the faces of those who empathize with us in our difficulties.

The hands that lift us up when we fall, the words which encourage us when we are crestfallen, the one who cheers us up when we are depressed and the person who lightens up our lives with their goodness, individually and jointly, show us that God can be found among the compassionate and kind-hearted people.

Yet, even if we were to miss Him in all of these places there is one sure place where God can be found.

That is among the poor and the downtrodden.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. (Proverbs 19:17)

This deep truth that God resides in the poor is what drives missionaries and social workers to spend their lives serving the poor and the neglected.

St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata is a case in point.

Her search for God ended with the poor, whom she served all her life and this is what she said, “We should not serve the poor like they were Jesus; we should serve the poor because they are Jesus!”