Everpresence. Isn’t that a beautiful word? (Okay, so it’s not a really word, but humor me, here!) The sound of it soothes my soul as I sit in the middle of my new living room floor, in my new house, amongst boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of….good grief, who knows what’s in these things…
Moving comes with a mountain of complications that is daunting in and of itself. There’s furniture to disassemble, fingers to smash, boxes to fill up, locating more boxes because the first ones you gathered up aren’t enough, junk you would rather leave behind than have to pack up and move, boxes and furniture to load up in any vehicle that will carry them, boxes and furniture to unload, furniture to reassemble after you finally find all of the parts to it again, boxes to unpack (or leave packed up and forgotten in some closet, in my case), places to find for it all….(deep breath)….services to cancel, services to subscribe to, billing addresses to change…mercy, just thinking about it all makes me just as tired as actually going through it! Now add the complications of trying to fit it all of that in between work and normal day to day activities.
In the words of Shakespeare – “Aye! There’s the rub!”
Because, you see, (in case you haven’t moved in a while), you can’t just move yourself. You have to have help. I can’t connect the phone lines myself, I can’t set up the satellite TV. I can’t just assume that my mailbox will get mail to it tomorrow. I can’t turn on the electricity. I’ve got to have help. And that means that I have to move on somebody else’s 8-5 (or 9-4, for heaven sakes) schedule. Of course, 8-5 is not exactly when I’m able to focus my attention on moving, because I’m at work. So when I’m able to finally think about forwarding addresses and missing parts to doorbells and new heater filters, the rest of the world has gone home. Gone to lunch. Gone to bed. Exactly where I would be if I could find the darned thing.
Obviously, the world is not going to change for my relocation complications, so I accept that I’ve got to change my schedule to fit everyone else’s if I’m going to accomplish anything. So I come to work armed and ready to make quick phone calls in between tasks at work. Well, “quick” is a relative term, of course. What I really meant is that I’m armed to track down a phone number, dial it, and then face a long list of dial menu options. Press one if you wish to subscribe to this service. Press two if you are a service technician trying to install a service. Press three if you already subscribe to this service and have a billing question. Press four if you already subscribe to this service and are experiencing a problem with your service, such as a black or snowy television screen. Press five if you already have gone through this dial menu four times and still are not sure which number you should choose. Press six if you wish to speak with a representative. Duh. Of course I want to speak with a human being, are you kidding me? Of course, the first human being you get is never the right human being, so you get put on hold until the next available human being can help you. And every human being comes at me with more questions than I had for them – can you verify your mailing address? (I would if I could get to the post office to change my address!). What is your present phone number (uh….darned if I know!). Please enter the last four numbers of your social security number for verification purposes. We’re sorry, we do not show that phone number to match that social security number in our records. You need to talk to a different human being. Human being #3 wants to know if I know where my television cables need to be installed and if I have all necessary remote controls still in my possession (uh…..in one of these boxes probably….hopefully…..uh….can I just get new remotes?) and then my phone call with human being #3 is suddenly cut off because I’ve just moved to a house where there is the weakest of cell phone signals and I would have called on a land line if I could get a hold of that office – oh, sorry. You probably got the point a long time ago.
My point is that moving is hard because true, honest to gosh everpresence isn’t what we human beings do (and yes, that includes human being #7 at the phone company who is above human beings 1-6.) Everpresence is something that only God does. There are lots of entities that try to compete, but no one else can pull it off. God’s everpresence is a service that I can subscribe to whether it’s 4:00 in the morning or 7:00 at night. I don’t have to have a working phone number and I don’t have to pay extra fees for voice dial. I don’t have to switch the service over from one person’s name to my own. God doesn’t need a dial menu to sort through requests or complaints or joyous remarks (like “I found the salt and pepper shakers!!! They were in this box way over here!!!”) or questions. He doesn’t require us to wait at home between the specific hours of 8:00 and 12:00 for an appointment to install his everpresence. He’s got technicians everywhere, although you might not know them just by looking at them. His God-Haul trucks can get you where you need to go without breaking your antique dish collection. He doesn’t put anyone on hold, he does the holding himself. Calls to him are free, but they don’t require 800 numbers. His everpresence is in every box I packed up, but it won’t – oh, thank you, God – get lost in one. He’s something that’s unchanging when nothing – and I mean nothing – else is. My call won’t get cut off in the middle of an important conversation and he doesn’t even mind if I ask the same thing four times in a row until I finally understand the answer. There’s not even any deposit to be paid because someone, bless their soul, paid it for me a long time ago. God’s everpresence is an around the clock, no fees, no waiting, no-batteries-included-because-they-aren’t-needed customer service.
Hey that’s a pretty good line. I should write that down – uh… well, I would if I knew where my pens were….
Moving comes with a mountain of complications that is daunting in and of itself. There’s furniture to disassemble, fingers to smash, boxes to fill up, locating more boxes because the first ones you gathered up aren’t enough, junk you would rather leave behind than have to pack up and move, boxes and furniture to load up in any vehicle that will carry them, boxes and furniture to unload, furniture to reassemble after you finally find all of the parts to it again, boxes to unpack (or leave packed up and forgotten in some closet, in my case), places to find for it all….(deep breath)….services to cancel, services to subscribe to, billing addresses to change…mercy, just thinking about it all makes me just as tired as actually going through it! Now add the complications of trying to fit it all of that in between work and normal day to day activities.
In the words of Shakespeare – “Aye! There’s the rub!”
Because, you see, (in case you haven’t moved in a while), you can’t just move yourself. You have to have help. I can’t connect the phone lines myself, I can’t set up the satellite TV. I can’t just assume that my mailbox will get mail to it tomorrow. I can’t turn on the electricity. I’ve got to have help. And that means that I have to move on somebody else’s 8-5 (or 9-4, for heaven sakes) schedule. Of course, 8-5 is not exactly when I’m able to focus my attention on moving, because I’m at work. So when I’m able to finally think about forwarding addresses and missing parts to doorbells and new heater filters, the rest of the world has gone home. Gone to lunch. Gone to bed. Exactly where I would be if I could find the darned thing.
Obviously, the world is not going to change for my relocation complications, so I accept that I’ve got to change my schedule to fit everyone else’s if I’m going to accomplish anything. So I come to work armed and ready to make quick phone calls in between tasks at work. Well, “quick” is a relative term, of course. What I really meant is that I’m armed to track down a phone number, dial it, and then face a long list of dial menu options. Press one if you wish to subscribe to this service. Press two if you are a service technician trying to install a service. Press three if you already subscribe to this service and have a billing question. Press four if you already subscribe to this service and are experiencing a problem with your service, such as a black or snowy television screen. Press five if you already have gone through this dial menu four times and still are not sure which number you should choose. Press six if you wish to speak with a representative. Duh. Of course I want to speak with a human being, are you kidding me? Of course, the first human being you get is never the right human being, so you get put on hold until the next available human being can help you. And every human being comes at me with more questions than I had for them – can you verify your mailing address? (I would if I could get to the post office to change my address!). What is your present phone number (uh….darned if I know!). Please enter the last four numbers of your social security number for verification purposes. We’re sorry, we do not show that phone number to match that social security number in our records. You need to talk to a different human being. Human being #3 wants to know if I know where my television cables need to be installed and if I have all necessary remote controls still in my possession (uh…..in one of these boxes probably….hopefully…..uh….can I just get new remotes?) and then my phone call with human being #3 is suddenly cut off because I’ve just moved to a house where there is the weakest of cell phone signals and I would have called on a land line if I could get a hold of that office – oh, sorry. You probably got the point a long time ago.
My point is that moving is hard because true, honest to gosh everpresence isn’t what we human beings do (and yes, that includes human being #7 at the phone company who is above human beings 1-6.) Everpresence is something that only God does. There are lots of entities that try to compete, but no one else can pull it off. God’s everpresence is a service that I can subscribe to whether it’s 4:00 in the morning or 7:00 at night. I don’t have to have a working phone number and I don’t have to pay extra fees for voice dial. I don’t have to switch the service over from one person’s name to my own. God doesn’t need a dial menu to sort through requests or complaints or joyous remarks (like “I found the salt and pepper shakers!!! They were in this box way over here!!!”) or questions. He doesn’t require us to wait at home between the specific hours of 8:00 and 12:00 for an appointment to install his everpresence. He’s got technicians everywhere, although you might not know them just by looking at them. His God-Haul trucks can get you where you need to go without breaking your antique dish collection. He doesn’t put anyone on hold, he does the holding himself. Calls to him are free, but they don’t require 800 numbers. His everpresence is in every box I packed up, but it won’t – oh, thank you, God – get lost in one. He’s something that’s unchanging when nothing – and I mean nothing – else is. My call won’t get cut off in the middle of an important conversation and he doesn’t even mind if I ask the same thing four times in a row until I finally understand the answer. There’s not even any deposit to be paid because someone, bless their soul, paid it for me a long time ago. God’s everpresence is an around the clock, no fees, no waiting, no-batteries-included-because-they-aren’t-needed customer service.
Hey that’s a pretty good line. I should write that down – uh… well, I would if I knew where my pens were….
“God is our
refuge and strength, and ever-present help in times of
trouble.”
Psalm 46:1
2 comments:
Thank goodness that we do not have to wait until 8AM to call on God! It is great to know that no matter when I need Him, he is there for me. Even my closest of friends have times they are busy and cannot come to my aid. But God always can!
Congratulations on your new home!
It is such a comfort to know that God is always there, no matter what.
Even in all the chaos of the season, He brings me an inner peace that is not always evident to others. I believe that is what you are talking about, when you talk about His everpresence.
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