students of jesus

The kingdom of God has at least five gateways right here and now. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch are daily evidence of the Creator’s kindness and creativity. He floods our senses with his joyful presence, but we have trained ourselves to ignore his always-speaking voice.

Try this: take a moment to re-discover how the goodness of God reaches us. Allow yourself one minute per sense to record how God reaches you. Then share some of your list with us all. Here’s mine:

Sight: The million Kentucky greens, goldfinch yellow and bluebird blue, the hazel eyes of the woman I love, every sunset and the occasional sunrise, double rainbows all the way (“What does it mean?”), and the angels at the very edge of my vision.

Sound: The timbre of my wife’s voice, my children’s laughter, woodpeckers about their morning’s work, the breeze among the trees. Earbuds!—OMG, earbuds! They are a category unto itself: U2, Adele, Mary J Blige, Bach and Bruckner, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriel’s Oboe, and lately, Sara Bareilles.

Taste: French toast, coffee, bacon (see also “smell”), Coca-Cola, butter melting on the biscuit, the salt of the sea and the salt of my sweat, the way hot peppers delay their attack until after you’ve committed yourself all the way.

Smell: Bacon! Firewood—stacked and waiting, the fireplace where our family gathers, the leather of my baseball glove, Starbucks, that moment as you begin to peel a banana, and my granddaughter’s hair just after bath time.

Touch: Hot showers, a subtle breeze, my lover’s kiss, the chill of ice, the drowsy warmth before I sleep, the way I run my fingertips across the back of my couch whenever I walk through the living room, and petting the dog who fits so neatly on my lap.

What will your list look like? Each sensation is an invitation to praise him anew. All these and ten thousand more: call them evolutionary adaptations if you must, I will call them gateways to his goodness.