“God said,”I am made whole by your life. Each soul,each soul completes me.”
~Hafiz (1320-1389)
Thumbing through a monthly devotional magazine I receive, I saw this quote gracing the page. It was the only decoration for the page, a centerfold actually. No other words or adornments. Only these 15 words, a kind of 14th century Tweet. Hafiz, the Muslim poet known for his earthy, beautiful poetry of his experience of God, sent this out into the world for us to ponder, to try to make sense of in our own experience of the Holy One. It also seems to me a kind of challenge.
What might our lives me like if we believed we somehow completed God? What might our choices of daily living be if we believed that our actions made God more visible, more complete, in the world? How might we fashion our national lives if we knew our decisions, our legislation was a way of completing God, making God more whole?
Of course this very statement represents a theological understanding of God that will challenge many. This God of Hafiz’s experiences is not static, not bound by time or a particular telling in any sacred text. This is a God who is always growing and changing, becoming more with the birth of each day, each soul. This image may be difficult for some to embrace. Those whose faith is founded in a God who spoke once and for all will have trouble with Hafiz’s concept.
As I read his words I thought of the artists I know who express their living through painting, composing music, sculpting, dancing, all the many art forms. If pressed I believe many would say their creative work adds an element to their wholeness, completes them in some way. Why should the Creator of All not be also completed by the ongoing creation of the world and all it contains? Each creature, each plant, each tree, each sunrise and sunset somehow paint God’s Presence more completely to those who are looking, to those who have eyes to see.
Today we will walk out our door and into our lives. These lives will hold joy and sorrow, pain and ecstasy, challenge and triumph, the mundane and the mediocre. But, along with Hafiz, I believe we will be about the work of completing God. May each of us walk with purpose and humility knowing we are a part of something so much larger than the appointments we have made, the tasks we must complete, the chores we must accomplish.
We are helping bring to wholeness the face of the Holy in the world. May we be blessed with every breath.