We tend to believe there is nothing wrong with us. Anything not going right in our lives is almost always someone else’s fault.
“Did you see what he did to me?”
“Did you hear what she said?”
“What was she thinking?” On a grander scale, we always have God to blame. With so much human suffering in the world, we think surely God has abandoned us.
In 1987, Martin Handford wrote Where’s Waldo?. The concept was simple. In very detailed pictures of public settings, such as crowded malls or train stations, the artist hid a young man named Waldo. When you glance at the scene, Waldo blends in and is difficult to locate. But you know, indisputably, that he’s there, right in front of your eyes, even if you can’t spot him. The same can be said for God. He is always right there, in every scene of your life; you just can’t always recognize him. He blends in. The fact that you haven’t found him doesn’t mean he’s not there. You’re just not looking in the right place.
Most of the time, we wait to blame the big things on God, or use them as evidence that he doesn’t exist. When we’re dealing with famine, wars, and tragedies of all kinds, we ask each other, “Where’s God during all of this?” Or else we think, “How could God let these things happen?” The reality is that God doesn’t allow bad things to happen; we do. He also never abandons us; we just can’t always find him. Like Waldo, he has blended into the daily scenes of our lives.
So what are we looking for? Most of us no longer expect to find a guy with a long white beard and flowing robe. It has been said that God is love, so let’s start there. Every time you witness a demonstration of love, you have just found God. If you have trouble finding such a demonstration, then simply give one yourself. Every act of kindness that you or anyone else performs is a demonstration of love. It is your proof that God is always with us. Finding love in yourself or others is the same as finding God.
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