“Everything is Pregnant With God!”
“There is nothing that is not spiritual for those who have learned how to see.” As I’m learning how to see I’m finding this to be absolutely true. Francis of Assisi once said that “everything is pregnant with God.” I love taking walks early in the morning. Walking in the woods when the forest is beginning to wake up is nothing less than spiritual—an orchestra of birds, crickets and locusts serenading the forest. Squirrels playfully chasing each other up and around the trees as fast as they can, and the bugs and insects coming out of their holes, from under rocks and logs as if to see what all the fuss is about. And as I look across the lake it’s just swimming with life. Air bubbles floating to the surface like underwater springs, fish jumping, turtles surfacing, and geese nailing their landings like skilled pilots. These worlds are home to so much life. It’s a spiritual moment. God with us. And I’m drawn in.
There’s a beautiful scene from the movie, Rigoletto where the main character, a wealthy, disfigured recluse named Ribaldi sings a song to his new voice student, Bonnie. But right before he sings, he goes into a tirade. Bonnie tells him that his anger over being disfigured has also made him ugly inside. When he finishes singing, Bonnie—astonished, turns to him and says, “No one can sing like that and not be beautiful.”
As I think of all the ugly things that have been attributed to God, I just can’t help but be drawn to the beauty of his creation. There have been times when I’ve been so astonished that my only response was, “no one can create this and not be beautiful.” And when I think of Jesus who allowed himself to be disfigured beyond recognition, to actually become sin for us—the blameless becomes the murderer, the rapist, the most barbarous offender—and in the last dying moments of his life cries out, “Forgive them!” What else could we possibly say? “No one can do this and not be beautiful!”