Stumbling Into Easter: The Of-Courseness of God

For most of my adult life I haven't been so sure about God. That such a mighty and glorious thing could exist seems far-fetched. And the Easter news -- of the Resurrection -- has seemed way too good to be true.

But now that I'm firmly located in the second half of my life - okay, okay, the third third of my life (And no, I'm not calling it the last third of my life; I'm not ready to go there - yet) . . . now that I've moved along in my life, past the time when I have to

'He stretcheth out the heavens . . . ' Photo by Barbara Newhall

make my mark on the world, produce those babies, get them raised to adulthood, achieve some success and glory as a writer, stash away some money for retirement . . . now that the gotta-do part of my life is behind me -- it seems to me (on a good day) that God's existence is right there for all to see, plain as day.

You can't miss it. Something is going on out there. Of course it is. It's common sense. How else could things be?

The eighth-century-BCE Hebrew prophet Isaiah appears to share my sense of the of-courseness of God. This exuberant Bible passage is attributed to him:

Have ye not known? Have ye not heard?
Hath it not been told you from the beginning?
Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,
And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;
That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in . . . .

- Isaiah 40:21-22, King James Version

See what I mean?

c 2016 Barbara Falconer Newhall. All rights reserved.

If you enjoyed this post you'll probably like my book, "Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith." Also "For Lent, Trying Giving Up That Old, Outworn Story About Yourself." And "What Happens When You Drop Your Cell Phone Into the Sacred Buddhist Sand Painting?"