Bumper Sticker Wisdom

“It may be that God is not a being but being itself.” Tolbert McCarroll

In the early morning hours and throughout the daylight and evening, I keep returning to this place of simply being. Am I returning to God in those moments? To myself? Are we one and the same? Yes, Spirit whispers. Yes. What a concept: God as being itself. By returning to the present moment, I am returning to God... returning to love.

Love is my religion. A return to love. Be the change... Phrases appear inside my mind like bumper stickers on a road warrior’s car or tattoos on a fervent artist who craves more and more ink. Has my life turned into a platitude? A bumper sticker? A greeting card? The gentle whisper tells me, No. That is not so.

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What if we never get life all figured out and forever communicate in bumper sticker wisdom? Can we learn to accept that we are merely human, flawed, and not {gasp} always perfect? What if we were to declare ourselves perfectly imperfect, stop trying to be brilliant, and gently rest in a place of stillness? Would the world fall apart or might it expand?

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• “Be still and know that I am God” – Psalm 46:10. Now that’s a phrase worth pondering. It’s one that has followed me unfailingly throughout my faith journey. It morphs and streams unceasingly into it’s own subtle (and not so subtle) versions.
• Be still and know that I am. I am and I am not. Am I literally here or just a passing illusion?
• Be still and know. Know what? Anything? Everything? Does it really matter? I rant. I ramble. I rest. I write.
• Be still. My furry muse, Aslan, plops into my lap and buries his snout beneath my arm. Be still. Breathe. Listen. Wait, he nudges.
  
• Be. That’s all there is. My word of grounding. It continues to arrive like the crest of a wave rising out of the sea that only moments before was gently rolling and calm. It’s time to ride the wave of being.
• Be. Is there more to life than that? More to the Universe? To God? What if Tolbert McCarroll is onto something and God is not a being as many of us have been taught to believe, but rather being itself?

Be still and know that we are one. Knowing comes in stillness. It arrives in the moment, all dreamy and quiet. Bold and beautiful. Simple. Complex. A mystery. Being or not, I believe God is definitely 'in the being' and, of course, the occasional bumper sticker.