Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
I was a literature major in college and I was supposed to have read Walt Whitman. Some consider him the greatest American poet of the nineteenth century. Yes, I’ve read “O Captain! My Captain!” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” and some lines from “Song of Myself.” But, sad to say, I have fully neglected the body of Whitman’s literature.

One evening last week—I don’t really know why—I picked up my husband’s Classics Club volume of Selected Poems by Walt Whitman. The gems to quote are limitless:

“All truths wait in all things,/ They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,/ They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon,/ The insignificant is as big to me as any,/ (What is less or more than a touch?)”

The more I read, the more I kept thinking, Why have I not read this before?

Whitman is a Master of the moment. He is a sacred sensualist, seeing the sublime in all things.

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars,/ And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,/ And the tree-toad is a chef-d’œuvre for the highest,/And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,/ And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery.”

I think I need to go back and start again reading Whitman from the beginning. I need to underline and highlight and write out the phrases that thrill me. I used to know the meaning of the poet’s words:

“Here such a beauty is that teareth me apart./ O, Lord, I fear you’ve made the world to beautiful this year.” —Edna St. Vincent Millay

In my quest to learn how to capture the moments again, I need to spend more time with the poets, for that is their specialty and that is why we have such trouble understanding them.

Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs,
       You make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.
 You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous,
        the river of God is full of water.
You prepare the grain, for so you provide for the earth.
You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges, with heavy rain you
         soften the ground and bless its increase.
You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.”
                                                                                                           —Psalm 65

Poets and psalmists all proclaim that the world is full of the works of God, but I must be in it and attentive to it all in order to know it.

I spy God!
 
 
 
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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, "Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains." In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. The are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.
 
 
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