Knowing who God is and understanding our relationship with him is for many a life-long journey. Our quest for spiritual knowledge can take us to many faraway places in search for the answers we seek. In reality, that spiritual knowledge can come through everyday experiences and even small and simple means. Here are six lessons we can learn about God - and teach our children about him - through our everyday experience.
1. In our trials
We learn that God is a God of sorrow and a God of comfort. When we cry, God cries with us. He feels our sorrow and knows our tears. If we allow him, he can also be our comfort. Through prayer, we can gain a closeness to heaven that will carry us through our trials and into the light of a new day. We can feel his arms around us as he carries us through the storms and we can use his light to guide us through the darkness. We will more fully know who God is when we choose to use his strength to lift us from our sorrows.
2. In sin
We learn that God is a God of mercy and forgiveness. There are very few things we can do that God won't forgive. He wants what any good parent would want, to see all his children come home, and he is willing to give them as many chances as it takes to get them there.
God sent his eldest son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins, so that he could freely forgive us of all our poor choices. He created a plan that allowed him to be a God of mercy and forgiveness because he loves us and wants us to one day live in his presence spotless from the sins of this world. All it requires is for us to use the atonement through repentance that we may stand pure in his presence. When we apply God's mercy and forgiveness to our life, we will surely come to know him and his great ability to forgive.
3. In our relationship with our spouse
We learn that God is a God of love and sacrifice. When my husband and I were first married, I was amazed at how much I could love another person. What struck me even more was how much another person could love me. My husband loves me and continues to love me unconditionally. He knows my weaknesses, my flaws, and my short-comings, yet he still loves me and continually forgives me. If he, being an imperfect person can love me unconditionally and treat me with such kindness and tenderness, I cannot even imagine the love God, a perfect person, must have for each of us.
I then think about how I would sacrifice everything for the happiness of my husband, and he would do the same for me. This is how it should be in marriage. It is to show us a small portion of what God has sacrificed for all of us. God gave his son and his son gave his life so that we all may have eternal life. As we grow closer to our spouse, we grow closer to God and recognize just how much we are loved by both.
4. When we watch our children play
We learn that God is a God of joy and laughter. Children's laughter feeds the soul, and anyone who joins in will be well fed. A child has the ability to lift hearts that hang down with a smile of innocence. God sends us children so that we may remember to delight in the simple things of life like a field of flowers or a pool of fresh rain water. The scriptures teach us to be as a little child, not childish, but childlike so that we may find joy and remember the melody of laughter. When Christ was upon the earth, it was the children he took time to visit and bless. Men are that they might have joy and as we strive to obtain that joy, we will more fully come to know God, for God is joy.
5. In nature
We learn that God is a God of beauty and peace. Spend time in nature and you will see the beauty God has created for you and me to enjoy. There is beauty all around us. From the array of vibrant colors found in the animals, flowers and trees to the majestic mountains and raging waterfalls, God's splendor is breath-taking. He has created it all for our benefit that we may rejoice and be glad in it.
Nature is also a place where we may go to find a closeness to God that is difficult to find anywhere else. Nature is a place of peace and tranquility that God has given his children so that they may feel his presence in the greatest abundance. When we spend time in nature, we not only see God's eye for beauty, we feel his peaceful presence.
6. In prayer
We learn that God is our father and we are his children. When we kneel in prayer and talk to God, we learn that if we are sincere, God will listen and answer us. God is our father and he desires our happiness. As we seek to know him, he will bless us with a greater understanding of who he is and exactly what we mean to him. God is a God of love. He is a God of goodness, a God of mercy, a God of joy and a God of peace. As we continue on our quest for spiritual knowledge, one thing will forever and always remain the same, God is our father and he will always and forever bless us with the knowledge that we seek.
