My morning quiet time has not been fruitful these past few days. I show up, sit in the silence, and listen. I wait. But all I hear is a whiz-bang of thoughts whirling in my mind.

I do what the teachers have taught me. I focus on my breath. Try to find the still-point between each wisp of air flowing through my lungs. It works for a while, but soon whiz and bang are back again playing bumper cars in my head.

“Where are you God? I miss you.” Those words spill from my heart into an absent void.

But then my dog Bailey, tickles my hand with her wet warm tongue. A robin fills the morning air with her song of joy outside my open window. The coffee I savor warms my throat, soothes my anxious soul. And I am invited to see more deeply with the eyes of my heart.

In those moments, God breaks through the din of my thoughts. I hear the Creator whisper. “I am right here. I am the God of the Ordinary. I have gifted you with a loyal dog. Can you feel my love through her caressing tongue?  I have sprinkled the world with a chorus of birds who greet the morning with songs of gladness. Can you hear me sing, ‘I love you,’ through their glorious strains? I pour abundance upon the earth with grains, fruits, and nuts so you can taste and see my goodness.”

 “Let those who have eyes to see be graced with inner vision to receive the God of the Ordinary,” I hear the silence speak.

I’ve been looking for God in all the wrong places.

I expect red seas to part, angels to descend from the heavens, burning bushes to be engulfed with flames.

But when I like Moses, take off my shoes and ask for the grace to find God in the ordinary, the Ordinary God shows up and surprises me in simple and miraculous ways.

—brian j plachta