Presence

There is a story of a young boy who played his first competitive soccer game at school. 

After the game, the boy’s coach called his father. The father answered the call saying, “Hello?” 

The coach replied, “Hello sir, it’s your son’s soccer coach. I just wanted to tell you how amazing your son was in the game today. He scored two goals, one of them a penalty kick. He was encouraging his teammates when they were becoming disheartened. He played for both halves and gave everything he had during the game. I was very impressed!”

The coach went on to share more about the game and the father’s heart was filled with pride.

After a while the young boy arrived home. The father raced out of the living room with a wide smile on his face to meet his son at the door. The father said, “Son, welcome home. How did the game go?” The son was sad as he looked up at his father. He said, “It doesn’t matter. Coach already called you and told you all about it.” 

The father shook his head and embraced his son in a warm hug. He said to him, “It does matter, I want to hear about the game from you. Please, tell me everything.”

Are we sometimes like this with God? If God is omniscient and omnipresent, why do we need to tell him about our day? Doesn’t God already know what happened to me today? 

Yes, He does. But He wants to hear it from us. He wants us to talk to him about our day even though He was there with us. He is the loving Father who wants us to share with Him our stresses, our joys, our hopes and our dreams, even though He already knows them all. Just like any conversation, talking to God builds our relationship, trust, and confidence in Him. We are given a glimpse into the heart of God, and we allow ourselves to be loved unconditionally like a father loves his child.

Here are some ways that we can recognise God’s presence, and share our hearts with Him.

1. Simply speak: God wants our conversation, so simply take some time to tell Him how your day went or ask His advice when dealing with a difficult situation. It might only be 5 minutes, or maybe it’s an hour. Whatever you have, God would love to hear it.
2. Read the Bible: This incredible book is filled with what God wants to say to us. Open up your bible and read a chapter or two, and find a verse that speaks to you. Consider what God might be saying through the scriptures in your life.
3. Notice Him in the everyday: God can speak to us through beauty, whether it be a sunset, a flower, a piece of art or music. God can also speak to us through the goodness and kindness of those around us. Look out for those moments, and praise God when you see them.
4. Attend Mass and the sacraments: Jesus is physically present every time we go to Mass! Jesus is also present in the sacrament of reconciliation, so we can seek forgiveness for those moments that we have failed, and give praise with the Angels and Saints in Mass for what God has done for us.

Just like the father wanting to hear all about the soccer game from his son, God wants to hear all about us! Let’s pray for each other, that we might recognise the presence of God waiting fervently to hear about our day from us, His sons and daughters.