Standing on Holy Ground

Recently my attention was arrested by this line from Deuteronomy 29:9: “You are standing today, all of you, in the presence of the Lord, your God….” Because God created all things and thus is present in all things, we are always standing on holy ground, which should lead us to a state of profound reverence and gratitude. How is it that we are we not aware that we are always standing in the presence of God? Perhaps it is because, as suggested by Emily Mitchell in her essay “On Becoming a Cat,” we don’t take the time to be present to the life around us:

Human beings look with just their eyes: the shapes and motions graze the optic nerve, but all the while they’re thinking about something else…only a small part of their attention is focused on their surroundings at any given time. Cats, in contrast, are able to watch with their entire body. Whatever they turn their attention to becomes at once the most fascinating object in the world. Practice staring until you, too, experience the magnificence of dust motes or sunlight slanting down a wall…you will find out how much you have been missing all these years. Time will slow and stretch, and each day will seem like several days, the way it used to when you were a child. You’ll wonder how you could ever have been bored for an instant in a world where there’s so much to see—and hear, and smell—in just a single room.

Multitasking is a great impediment to living a whole and holy life. Let us give God the honor of our full attention when we are standing on holy ground—that is to say, always (all ways). Then our lives will truly become a prayer, which is what we are all called to from the moment we came into being.