It’s been a strange year, which sounds woefully inadequate. Somedays it appears the world has gone mad. Not my first time thinking this or even saying it. Hell, almost everyone I know is saying the same thing. I’ve been watching the last couple years of f***ed up leadership in this country – watching people support racism, sexism, classism, and any other “ism” you’d like to suggest. People, who frankly, are the antithesis of what I hold sacred, the values that shape my life – the good, the true and beautiful – the things that matter most to me.

Shootings are now so frequent millions are numb to the killings, people so overwhelmed they are shut down, either unable or unwilling to connect to the depth of suffering happening in the moment. Nevermind the long-term trauma yet to unfold. Devastating natural disasters exacerbated by our own neglect and the trance we choose to remain in because to awaken to the cries of mother earth and its inhabitants means being responsible. And if we choose to be responsible, that means accountability, discomfort and sacrifice.

This past year a dear friend went off the rails – way, way, way off the rails – and now sits in prison with a sentence of life + 15 years, whatever the hell “+15 years” means – it’s already a life sentence! She reminds me of the importance of the little things. Her presence is… well, I guess, ever-present. She is just far enough off my radar screen so that I don’t get immensely distracted from the activity of my own life, yet just barely in my peripheral vision, lest I ever forget her and what she means in my world.

What makes her so present in the peripheral vision of my world, is that, frankly, she has brought to life something that has been percolating within me for a very long time. Maybe God is too big. Yes, maybe my God, your God, our God, or whatever you call that sense of Ultimate Reality – whether you believe in God or not – is too big. Like many, it’s important to maintain the idea or belief in the mystery of God as principle or something too vast and unknowable to describe or name. It gives me hope. Challenges in my country and world right now seems so big that they require a “big” answer.

For so long there has been an over focus on God as transcendent, as ultimate awesomeness and infinite potential and possibility. We like the majesty, imagination and vastness of the mystery of our universe, the great web of life, the Allness of the Suchness of the Beingness. I can get lost in a state of consciousness that enlivens and awakens me to this mystery.

Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t disagree with this, I’m just wondering if it isn’t time to shift focus a little bit. Like any spiritual principle, this is a paradox, and now is a good time to move our attention to what is already present in our midst here on planet earth – small stuff, the everyday life, including the challenges, and see God there.

I think we are asleep, in a trance almost, a bit of a deep slumber over this “bigness.”It is imperative that we are awake to that deep mystery we are immersed in, that inexplicable, unnamable “ground of our being,” but not camp out there or reduce it by ignoring the fact that the mystery enters our world through us – through the small things. In so doing we discover that “God isn’t someone else,” and the “bigness” we love to imagine and get lost in is what the mystic poet Kabir sees as beginnings of the “the Secret One slowly growing a body.”

Whatever our beliefs, spiritual practices and ways of being in the world, we can pause and step into the season of Advent and Christmas, the story and celebration of Hanukkah, or the myriad of other holy days recognized around the world during this darkest time of the year. I think we are asleep, in a trance almost, a bit of a deep slumber over this “bigness.” For me sometimes it’s easier to focus there, it can “feel” more comfortable, more peaceful. Yet given what’s going on in my world, I need to shake off that comatose state and be attentive to the smallness, the Emmanuel – God with us, the light in the dark, the vastness in the smallness.

I’m just wondering if so much attention on the bigness of God, of talking so much about the infinite possibilities and unlimited potential doesn’t sometimes hinder our ability to see God in the body of the suffering, craving addict, the bully, the starving child, the prostitute, the white nationalist, the rapist, or even in government. In the context of the Christmas story, think of it this way – instead of Jesus being asleep in the manger, you are. It’s time to wake up, the world is looking for and waiting for someone to light the way – and in case I wasn’t clear – that’s you – in your small way.

… think of it this way – instead of Jesus being asleep in the manger, you are and it’s time to wake up.Maybe God is too big, and it’s time to focus on the smallness. The smallness that shows up as everyday life, the quiet moments of humanity when we are kind and decent and practicing being still and present with each other. The sweet moments of a simple thank you, a smile, gazing out the window at the squirrels in the bird feeder again, the silly commercial I’ve seen 100 times yet always makes me chuckle, the precious glimmer of life that creeps in when feeling the absence of a loved one.

There’s a small pilot light in each of us, in all life, that cannot be extinguished, and by practicing the “smallness” of God we help that light grow just a little bit brighter. Ironically, we see that light best in the darkness, which is why we are called to awaken in the manger and connect with life in a “small” way, get into a new way of being more attentive to the stranger and the loved one alike.

In my interfaith work, I often find myself introducing the idea of faith as different from religion, and I offer that to you now, as a catalyst for making God small. I believe faith is that courageous trust in the mystery of life, and it is this mystery that also makes us human. Faith is how we make meaning of our lives.

What we believe, is our credo, which means “I believe.” The root of the word comes from two Latin words, cor meaning “heart” and do meaning “to give.” Literally to give my heart. Belief is giving of one’s mind, faith is giving of one’s heart – this is focusing on the smallness of God. Like I said, maybe God is too big sometimes. If so, then start practicing the smallness by the giving of your heart – to yourself, to a loved one, a stranger, and the one unrepeatable moment just barely in the peripheral vision of your world.

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