The apostle Paul taught the people of Athens that you don’t have to search very far to find God. “He be not far from every one of us,” Paul testified, with the following explanation:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being.
Acts 17:28
Do you want proof of God’s existence? Do you want to grow closer to Him? Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and savor the miracle of your existence.
King Benjamin similarly reminded his people to acknowledge the miracles of the moment. He told them that God…
…has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another.
Mosiah 2:21
We tend to only notice when things go wrong. Our brains filter out the ordinary, which helps us recognize and deal with risks, dangers, and challenges. But the unhappy side effect is that we tend to ignore the incredible miracles we experience every moment of our lives: our constantly beating hearts, our remarkable, self-healing bodies, our extraordinary autonomy and independence, the beauty of the world around us.
In March 1831, Joseph Smith received a revelation in which the Savior spoke of events that will precede His Second Coming. In that revelation, He introduced Himself as:
Him who laid the foundation of the earth, who made the heavens and all the hosts thereof, and by whom all things were made which live, and move, and have a being.
Doctrine and Covenants 45:1
He is about to describe cataclysmic events, which will certainly command attention. But He opens the revelation with a reminder of His energizing presence in our lives, in our motion, and in our very being.
Today, I will look for God’s influence in the small things. I will be more aware of my breath, more grateful for my freedom of motion, and more mindful of my thoughts and feelings. I will recognize that life itself is evidence of the Life-giver, and I will thank Him for the easily ignored miracles of my daily life.
Amen brother Paul, amen. in the name of Jesus Christ amen. He is and because He is, we are and we can be joyful and at peace through Him. Thank you for your daily emails and blogs.
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