(Photo taken on the grounds of St. Leo Monastery)

Adam and Eve hide in the garden, ashamed of their nakedness – of the naked truth about themselves. God calls to Adam, inviting him to reveal himself. The irony is that God knows precisely where Adam and Eve are. He knows everything that they have done.

God’s question isn’t a question at all. It is a gracious invitation.

Where are you? These past few days I have let this question reverberate in my being. Always God is calling to us, inviting us into relationship. So quickly on any given day, I encounter moments when I find myself lost or disoriented, floundering for a time. Often this manifests in frustration with others or myself, in my impatience that things take time, and that everyone isn’t interested in doing things “my way.” I remind myself to breathe, to take a moment. This scripture puts words to the sense I get in these moments – moments when I try to find my true center. Moments when I ask myself, Where are you?

Recently, I prayed one of those prayers of desperation: “Jesus, help me to see what is most important, what is my next step. Please just show me what it is that you want me to do!” The answer I received was immediate and clear: How about just loving me with all your heart and mind and soul? I am less interested in what you do. It was as if Jesus told me to include him in this ministry of presence that is at the heart of our “church without walls.”

God calls us to practice a ministry of presence with God. May we ask ourselves periodically: Where am I? May we practice a ministry of presence with the One who creates us all.