In our 鈥淲hy I Believe鈥� series, people share their real-life stories about God working in the everyday and why they believe鈥攕hare yours.
Wonder and awe are why I believe in God. I remember being awed by the Eucharist when preparing for the Sacrament in second grade. I was amazed that Jesus wanted to be broken and shared, to be received by everyone in every time and place 鈥� even a little seven-year-old like me.
As a kid, trips to National Parks like Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Glacier filled me with wonder and awe at a Creator who made the world so stunningly beautiful. Trees are miracles. Rocks are miracles. Water is a miracle. Life is a miracle. God felt so very close, beckoning me to be filled with gratitude, appreciation, and curiosity.
I remember standing at the feet of the Multnomah Falls in Oregon. In that moment, my life seemed confusing, I was fearful and anxious about the future. Life seemed out of my control and I was tempted to doubt that God would protect and provide for me. Staring at the water rush over the ledge and down hundreds of feet, I stood in awe as the water just kept coming. The water had been falling for hundreds 鈥� probably thousands 鈥� of years. And it would long outlast me. The waterfall was like grace: I knew there would be no shortage of it. The grace would just keep coming. All I had to do was pay attention, be open, and receive it.
I had a similar experience a few years later in El Salvador. We had just spent time with people who shared what it was like to endure the brutality of civil war and state-sponsored terror. We heard stories about people who mourned the bloody murder of Archbishop Romero in 1980 and the UCA martyrs in 1989. My heart was heavy at the suffering in the world 鈥� past, present, and future. Our last day of the trip, we went to the beach to process all we saw and heard, thought and felt. I felt uncomfortable doing something leisurely and comfortable in the face of so much violence and injustice. As I stood facing the endless horizon, my feet firmly planted in the wet sand, and the waves rushed toward me, I was once again reminded of God鈥檚 nearness and vastness. Just like the waterfall, those waves just kept coming: they had always surged onto the land and they always will. I felt renewed by the water that ebbed and flowed, knowing that the day would not come when the water would stop washing ashore. Just like grace, the water is superabundant. Just like God, the water will always be there to restore me, even in the face of evil or despair.
DR. MARCUS MESCHER is an Assistant Professor of Theology at Xavier University and Boston College alum (MTS 鈥�09, PhD 鈥�13)
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