Short Questions - Long Answers

Who are you, Lord God and Who am I?

I’ve discovered that the shortest questions require the most thought and most often take the longest to answer.  I began a sabbatical time in April 2020, and one year later, some short questions I asked myself then are still in the process of being answered. 

Early in my sabbatical time, I read an account of St Francis of Assisi overhearing a colleague praying a very short prayer over and over, “Who are you, Lord God and who am I?” Instead of continuing on to finish reading the article, I stopped, pushed the article aside and attempted to answer the question for myself. One year later, I’m still answering it! 

I thought I knew who God is … but I’ve realised it will take me the rest of my life (and then some) to fully answer that. Many, many, many pat answers were in my mind, but I was determined to find my own answer that had some gut level authenticity to it.  

The answer that is sitting best with me right now is,

“God is nice, and he likes me”

I cannot count the number of times I have heard, “God is good and he loves us” but those words have lost their impact for me. They have been spoken too many times and no longer go deep in to me. 

So, for now, I’m loving my answer, “God is nice … and he likes me” … as for the second question, “Who am I?” … that is for another blog.