Religion

Nathan Anderson

Around 20 years ago, I sat in my office, slouched in my chair, plagued with discontent. Discouraging thoughts cluttered my mind as I yearned for relief from my chaotic mental noise. I happened to be at a stage of my life when I was actively exploring concepts related to presence and mindfulness, and I had been deliberately attempting to weave meditative moments into my days. The discouraging moment I had been experiencing was a prime opportunity to put the concepts into practice.

I attempted to detach my deeper essence from my restless mind to hopefully settle into a brief period of cognitive rest. My attempt seemed to be successful as the clouds of incessant thought instantly dissipated. After a few moments passed with a clear and still mind, the following words suddenly entered into my scope of awareness: “What I need right now is a good Dose of God. I need some medicine for my soul.” Something about the phrase resonated with me, so I decided to contemplate it further. Here is my initial reflection:

“Thankfully, one mustn’t travel far for a Dose of God. In fact, one mustn’t travel at all. There’s no need to drive to the pharmacy or walk to the medicine cabinet. A Dose of God can be had anytime, anywhere. You are constantly in the presence of this medicine. Not a moment passes that it’s not at your disposal.

“God’s medicine is in your body, in your thoughts, in your voice, in the voice of another, in the food you eat, in the books you read, in the songs you hear, in the animals you see, in the trees you pass, in the games you play, in every experience in which you engage. It is everywhere, all the time. When you are fully present, free of all distractions – in everything you see, you will see it; in everything you hear, you will hear it; in everything you feel, you will feel it.

“To administer it, you simply must open your soul and let it in. Upon entrance, the medicine takes immediate action. Your perceptions change. You witness the grace, purpose, and will of God in everything. You see beauty in that which was before seen as ugly; you hear the voices of angels in that which was previously heard as disruptive noise; you feel the comfort of the Lord in that which was formerly felt as pain.

“You perceive everything for what it truly is and see the world without judgment. You allow yourself to realize the divine connections in all that exists and open yourself to acquire spiritual insights from each of your experiences. You begin to realize that the lessons you learn in one experience are transferable to many, if not all, other experiences in life.

Peace, comfort, and healing are delivered directly to your soul.”

After I wrote the initial reflection, the phrase, Dose of God, persisted in my mind. A couple of days later, I woke up in the middle of the night with verses of a poem effortlessly making their way through my thought stream. I felt compelled to transcribe the verses, so I got out of bed and began writing. The verses followed an alphabetic pattern and continued to flow until the poem was complete. By the time I went back to sleep, the poem, “The ABCs of a Dose of God,” had taken shape. Ever since that night, the poem has echoed in my mind as a frame of reference for me to notice and resonate with the infinite blessings that accompany our daily lives.

Nathan Anderson is the director of Institutional Assessment at Minot State University and the author of “Finding Doses of God: Noticing and Interpreting Divine Expressions in Daily Life.”