How important the concept of God is, and how instead of valuing what has been given us, we with light hearts spurn it because of absurdities that have been attached to it. ~ Leo Tolstoy, Last Diaries, 1960

Few words create more passion and have been more misunderstood and abused than “God.” I sometimes ask clients whether they believe in God. One of the most frequent answers goes something like this: “I don’t believe what is taught in churches today, but I do believe in a spirit within me. Yes, I do believe in God.” For those of you who feel cautious talking about God, I encourage you to open your heart. I’m not suggesting that you should change your beliefs, but that you drop your judgment and your fear of judgment. Certainly some people differ with you in their beliefs, but consider that others will have a great deal in common with you. Maybe God’s worth coming out of the closet and talking about? Following are quotes concerning God which I have found enlightening.
David Cantu
Life Coach Austin Texas
Let’s Talk About God © 2005

Knowing God

It is easy to understand God as long as you don’t try to explain him. ~ Joseph Joubert
But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things. ~ Vincent van Gogh, Dear Theo: An Autobiography of Vincent van Gogh, 1937

God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand, you have failed. ~ Saint Augustine

Some people talk about finding God – as if He could get lost. ~ Author Unknown

“What do you think of God,” the teacher asked. After a pause, the young pupil replied, “He’s not a think, he’s a feel.” ~ Paul Frost

What is God?

God is love. ~ 1 John 4:16

God is not the name of God, but an opinion about Him. ~ Pope Xystus I, The Ring

We need not join the mad rush to purchase an earthly fallout shelter. God is our eternal fallout shelter. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul. ~ Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, 1734

“I was six when I saw that everything was God, and my hair stood up, and all,” Teddy said. “It was on a Sunday, I remember. My sister was a tiny child then, and she was drinking her milk, and all of a sudden I saw that she was God and the milk was God. I mean, all she was doing was pouring God into God, if you know what I mean. ~ J.D. Salinger, “Teddy,” 1954

God is like the ocean, we’re like the waves. ~ Author Unknown
Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign. ~ Anatole France, Le jardin d’Epicure

Experience of God

I had a thousand questions to ask God; but when I met him they all fled and didn’t seem to matter. ~ Christopher Morley, Inward Ho!, 1923

When the solution is simple, God is answering. ~ Albert Einstein

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. ~ Susan B. Anthony

I had no idea what it would be like to meet God. Then one day my life flashed before my eyes, and there he was. In every experience, “good” and “bad,” there he was. I laughed then for the longest time as I saw how silly it was of me to ever have been scared. ~ David Cantu

People and God

I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much. ~ Mother Teresa

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 1943

I’ve been hiding from God, and I’m appalled to find how easy it is. ~ Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966

Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message. ~ Malcolm Muggeridge

God tells me all kinds of things, usually between 4 and 7 a.m. ~ David Cantu

For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us from birth to death guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet … Shall we think of the day as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who has fed us so long? ~ Rebecca Harding Davis

Most people wish to serve God – but only in an advisory capacity. ~ Author Unknown

What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~ Eleanor Powell

God enters by a private door into each individual. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Believing in God

I could not say I believe. I know! I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call God. ~ Carl Jung

I do not believe in God, for that implies an effort of the will – I see God everywhere! ~ Jean Favre

I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker. ~ Voltaire