It's Snowing!

The incessant rain has finally given way to a cold snap here and about 17:00 it started to snow. Lightly at first but then with greater insistence.
I was concerned that a night out with a good friend would not happen but then remembered his desire to play with his 4wd monster truck. So we had a nice couple of hours in the pub and  couple of drinks to pass the time befote heading home in the snow.
Time to take my dog out for a last walk.  He enjoys the snow with a wholw load of fresh scents to keep him amused.
I found mysekf thinking that I actually love snowy nights and the thing I like most is the profound silence I can hear.
Bit of a contradiction that but its true I love to hear the silence.  No cars,  no sirens, no people just the gentle sound of the falling snow. However in that silence I can hear the sound of eternity and it brings me an inner peace that I rarely find outside of nights like this.

From the mouths of babes...

Come the most interesting questions..

Today's late evening question from the enquiring mind of my 11 year old was
"why don't people believe in God?"

Phew that is a deep one - mind you it followed shortly on the heels of
"where does my consciousness come from?"
earlier in the evening.

Both of these are not easy questions to answer and both of them have taxed the minds of philosophers, sages, doctors and psychiatrists for centuries and to date I am not certain if anyone has come up with a satisfactory answer.

Certainly among the answers to the first one of these is one of choice, people choose not to believe in a God for a variety of reasons, they see the ills of the world around them and find it hard to believe that a caring and compassionate deity could allow them to happen. Some lose faith over a period of time believing that other ways may lead to a more caring and compassionate world and that by their actions following this path, they will help achieve this. Others don't even see a God in this world, all they see is themselves as their own God in their own corner of the universe selfishly believing that they are right to do as they see fit and be damned to the rest of the world.

For myself I have both lost and found faith over the years and take some small comfort in that faith.

Not of picturing a saintly looking bearded man in the sky, smiling benevolently at his creation, but of looking around me and seeing the wind, the skies, the stars , the plants and the animals and yes the other people around me and feeling that this is the true nature of God in creation. I do wonder at wars and the unfortunate ills of the world but I also acknowledge that God gave us free will and we use that to the good or ill in the world which we inhabit for such a short space of time.

I hope that I am using my time here to the good!