I discovered proof of God on Wednesday afternoon in the tree branch shadows cast across the snow and frozen stream where I had stopped on the side of the road to let Kiki catch her breath and Bear investigate the smells of other animals. Kiki and Bear are my elderly adopted Newfoundland dogs. Our walks meander.

My Lenten journey is only a few weeks old, but already my days have been filled with prayers of all sorts, communal and private. Rosaries recited, scriptures pondered, psalms prayed aloud and centering prayer in silence. Prayers said in the dark as I drift off to sleep and said again at 6 a.m. as the light begins to create an outline of mountain peaks outside my window.Proof of God

We can argue all day long about figurative and literal creation stories and theories of evolution and life on other planets and whether all this scientific knowledge confirms or just disproves the existence of God.

But I don’t need scientific proof or the measurement of the speed of sound and light when I have silence and light among the shadows of a winter afternoon.

To see it as more than frozen water and dormant trees is to recognize I have a conscious mind that perceives beauty. To have a momentary observance of nature lift my spirits is to understand we were formed by a creator who was not assembling automatons but souls with imaginations to appreciate the beauty of a world beyond its utility.

Our souls were given not only an appreciation of creation but an innate need to create. Our souls compel us to communicate with our creator, through art, music, science, technology and all the good things that flow from our creative minds.

#Catholic #Christian #lent #inspiration