You're Always Connected to God (Even Though It Feels Like You're Not)

Contrary to some strains of Christianity, I believe we are always connected to God. And yet, that isn't how we tend to experience life, is it?

ai generated: bright yellow sun in the sky with rays that reach to earth

Consider the sun.

Technically speaking, as an inhabitant of the planet earth you have always had and will always have unrestricted access to the sun. There’s no way to actually or truly prevent that.

And yet, obviously there are ways to disrupt/deny/restrict not just your access to the sun, but your capacity to feel it, know, and so on. Additionally there are myriad ways in which we might think or feel or believe we are no longer in the presence of the sun, but that’s more a reflection of our limited perception or our unique circumstances than it is what is objectively true.

For example, you might be born in a part of the world where the sun rarely shines. As a result, you grow up thinking that you are only in the presence of the sun in very rare instances.

Or conversely, you might have been born in a part of the world where the sun is so extreme that you actually spend most of your time indoors, sheltered from its rays.

Or you might be a future inhabitant of a post-apocalyptic Earth where the atmosphere has been rendered unlivable, forcing you to live underground in a bunker. Through no fault of your own, your lived experience is that of “disconnected from the sun.”

Or maybe you vacation to a tropical beach somewhere and you get toasted your first day out. Your poor decision to sit poolside for six hours without reapplying sunscreen now means that you must spend the rest of your vacation in the hotel room hiding from the UVs.

Point being, there is what is Real and True: the sun is there, always shining, always giving of its energy, and it is freely given to all without partiality.

And then there is what you actually Experience: sometimes you feel its presence, other times you don’t.

And when you don’t, that can be because of any number of internal/external factors, as well as a consequence of your own choices and/or a product of circumstance and systems beyond your control.

I actually think our connection to God is kind of like that.

There is what is Real and True: you are connected to God/Source/Love always and forever.

And then there is what is Experienced and Perceived: we feel disconnected, or, we put up blockades, or there exist legitimate barriers that simulate a kind of disconnection.

Before I say more about that, first I need to clear out what many of us in Christianity were taught: that we are, by default (because of sin), separated from God.