I was driving home from PA yesterday, where I spent the day with a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer after surviving two bouts of the endometrial variety. Her partner, a sweetheart, has a congenital heart defect that has caused repeated heart failure and strokes. The two women have said their goodbyes on more than one occasion. I suspect that they might have lots of reasons to shake their fists at whatever form of the Divine appeals to them but instead they value life and one another in ways that are inspiring. But I digress …
… driving home from PA, I passed a giant billboard on 276 that shouted, “When You Die You WILL Meet God!” Not fearing death, I was driving far too fast to notice who sponsored the message that intruded on my peaceful musings. At first I was annoyed that people who apparently have both disposable income and a skewed sense of religious zeal chose to exercise their First Amendment right using such intrusive methods. But the more that I thought about their message the more I started to pity their very limited understanding of the human relationship with the Divine.
I find it rather sad that anyone would believe that one must die before meeting God. In my opinion, that’s a little late in the game. Most religions have some conception of a Divine/human link: humanity is created in the image of the Divine; humans contain a Divine spark; humans can access the Divine through prayer, meditation or other methods; humanity is one with the Divine; humans came from Divinity and will return to it; and some go so far as to posit that humans are Gods, whether or not they know it. Even people who label themselves atheists often experience a profound sense of awe while hiking through the Grand Canyon or walking on a glacier. In none of these scenarios must one wait until death to experience the Divine.
So, the next time that you’re tooling down the highway, I’d like you to think about the many ways that you interact with the Divine, however you conceive of it, on a daily basis. If you wait until death to meet God then you’ve missed out on life.
Detour Thru My Mind 
Go ahead. Post a Comment. You know you want to do it!
Wendy.
First of all, I am SO glad to see you writing in this medium! Can’t wait to read more.
Second, I couldn’t agree with you more. The Divine has never been more palpable to me than hiking out to Grinnell Lake in Glacier National Park just a few days ago. Walking through the old growth forest, over and around rushing creeks swollen with the melting snow (and glaciers…but that’s a digression for another day), passing by waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet, to pop out at a turquoise lake sitting in a bowl of cliffs reaching upwards hundreds of feet, I would say it would have been impossible to not feel that I was standing with God.
Of course, there are those who have a view of God as an old man waiting to judge; standing with God should invoke fear. Even having not been raised within a formal religous structure, I battled that view for a long time.
However, as I have shed layers and layers of beliefs that are not mine, as I have healed the parts of me that are the least “god-like”, I continue to have experiences that have taught me that heaven and hell are both available to us right now, in this moment. I get to choose.
Life’s a lot more full, rich, and frankly, live-able, when I choose heaven.
Thanks, Jennifer! 8) And three cheers for your insightful and oh-so-true comment! I couldn’t agree more that we have the power to choose heaven or hell right now. What I don’t understand is why so many people choose the latter — even when they have had powerful experiences of the former. Our natural state is one of happiness so why work so hard to create a life that’s characterized by misery and struggle? Like you, I choose the path of joy! 8)
We saw the billboard too…but for us, we just lost a best friend suddenly – it felt like a sign from him – because the very next billboard sign had his rare nickname on it. I feel God’s presense every day, I agree with you so much that we don’t need to wait til we die, but that sign didngive me that implication- it just felt like really meet him on a level we can’t even grasp. He is here now, but when we die…we can’t even know the joy. We loved the billboard because it felt like a clear sign from our friend and we have had many other varying signs.
I think you missed the point of the billboard. It’s not suggesting you should or must wait until death to meet God. It’s simply stating a fact – that no matter what you belive, or what religion you follow, or what belief system you hold, you will meet God. For those that know Him, this will be a joyous and long-awaited moment, to finally meet Him face-to-face. For those that don’t know Him, or those who deny His very existence, well it may not be so pleasant.
I think the billboard is aimed primarily at those whose lives have no room for God, and to those who could care less that He exists and loves them more than they can know. It’s a wake-up call to those who live like there is no God, that when your time on this earth is up, you will meet Him. It’s to get people to think that perhaps they should lean about Him and get to know Him now, because if they wait, it may become too late.