Re-Blog from Women of Faith Daily

The Organic God Monday, August 5, 2013 by Margaret Feinberg . . . More often than not, I find myself compartmentalizing God. He is more welcome in some areas of my life than others. Prayer, Bible study, Scripture memorization, journaling, and other spiritual disciplines become like items to be checked off a to-do list that is eventually crumpled up and thrown away rather than savored and reflected upon.  The result is that my understanding and perception of God is clouded, much like the dingy haze of the pollution that hangs over most major cities. The person in the middle of a city looking up at the sky doesn't always realize just how much their view and perceptions are altered by the smog. Without symptoms such as burning eyes or an official warning of scientists or media, no one may even notice just how bad the pollution has become. That's why I describe God as organic.  While it's a word usually associated with food grown without chemical-based fertilizers or pesticides, organic is also used to describe a lifestyle: simple, healthful, and close to nature.  Those are all things I desire in my relationship with God. I hunger for the simplicity. I want to approach God in a childlike faith, wonder, and awe. I long for more than just spiritual life but spiritual health-whereby my soul is not just renewed and restored but becomes a source of refreshment for others. And I want to be close to nature, not mountain ridges and shorelines as much as God's nature working in and through me.  Such a God-infused lifestyle requires me to step away from any insta-grow shortcuts and dig deep into the soil of spiritual formation found only in God. Natural. Pure. Essential. I want to discover God again, anew, in a fresh way. I want my love for him to come alive again so that my heart dances at the very thought of him. I want a real relationship with him-a relationship that isn't altered by perfumes, additives, chemicals, or artificial flavors that promise to make it sweeter, sourer, or tastier than it really is. I want to know a God who in all his fullness would allow me to know him. I want a relationship that is real, authentic, and life-giving, even when it hurts. I want to know God stripped of as many false perceptions as possible. Such a journey risks exposure, honesty, and even pain, but I'm hungry and desperate enough to go there. I want to know the Organic God. About The Organic God What would it look like to have an organic relationship with God?  One that is stripped of all pollutants and additives of this world. Margaret Feinberg (author of many of the popular Women of Faith Study Guide Series Bible studies and one of the "Thirty Emerging Voices" of Christian leadership) asks you to imagine that kind of relationship. Through personal stories and scriptural insights, Margaret shares glimpses of God's character-big-hearted, kind, beautiful, mysterious-that point to an authentic and naturally spiritual relationship with him, allowing you to truly discover God in a healthy, refreshing new way, and fall in love all over again.