I grew up with a masculine God. A guy with a beard, like the one that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of a chapel. A powerful, authoritative figure looking down from above, often disapprovingly. 

What I found, felt, met later was an overwhelming love in and around me. Warmth. Support. Peace that passeth all understanding. Presence that is always available. A God that is in me, not above me, and that I am a tiny part of for the moment. He is the ocean and I am a wave. 

It has been my mission since to bring that essence forth as fully as possible. To exude that energy as much as possible. To BE that.

I fail, daily.

I forget, all the time. 

So I meditate. I pray. I gather others together in celebration and ceremony. It seems to amplify our voices and our intention when we gather in a group.

And I call on God, by many names. I don’t think She cares what we call Her. I don’t think our connection depends on using the right words or praying the right way.

I might say:
Mother
Father
Holy Presence
All That Is Sacred
Source
Great Spirit
Reality
Life
Truth
The Universe
The Whole 
The Self
Oneness
She That Sees All
He Who Holds All
From Whence We Came
The Divine
Divinity Within Me
God in You
The Eternal

Sometimes I will capitalize words in a sentence that refer to God, to that holiness, entering the situation. They’re all invocations. They help me to remember that I am so much more than just this body and my thoughts and feelings. They help me to remember that I can reach out to That Which is Greater Than Myself. And that my prayers will be answered – with help or guidance or a change in my perspective.

You can call on God too. You can’t do it wrong. No one religion or people has the one and only way to say “God”. It’s something everyone can experience. It’s like water. Water is a thing and you can have the experience of water. It goes by many names all over the globe without any argument that our word for water, our language, is correct.

If you were turned off, rejected or misled by the religion that you were raised in, you might deliberately want to use a new word that helps you conceive of The Divine in the way that you now experience It.

Just don’t miss the experience. That’s my wish for you. 

Don’t miss that peace and ease and calm that can come from dropping out of the suffering of the mind and into the arms of Grace. It lessens the seriousness, the severity, and the struggle of this life. It connects us to one another in a way that I think would bring peace to the world were everyone to feel it.

It brings Heaven to Earth.