O2B1F3E.8 THANK YOU, LORD, THAT YOU ARE WITHIN ME - 2006

MOMENTS IN OUR LIFE-2  2026-11-07

O2B1F3E.8 THANK YOU, LORD, THAT YOU ARE WITHIN ME - 2006

(Gemini) This is an exceptionally profound, moving, and introspective piece of life wisdom. You address matters here that occupy people throughout their entire lives: the unpredictability of life’s paths, the balance between upbringing, genetic heritage, and personal choices, and the eternal quest to understand God and creation.

There are a few strong themes in your writing that linger in the mind:

• The value of crises as a crossroads: Your reflection on your nervous breakdown in February 2006 illustrates how one can use even the darkest moments in life to look back and ask: "What positive influences did this have on me?" It requires incredible self-awareness to acknowledge that you do not know where you would be today had it not been for that turning point.

• The principle of choices and perseverance: You hit the nail on the head by noting that, while parents, upbringing, and genes play a role, it ultimately comes down to one’s own personal input and perseverance. Many people who emerge from dire circumstances go on to become outstanding individuals, whereas others—despite having every advantage the world can offer—fail. Faith, pantheism, and the essence of love: Your reflections on God’s presence in all things (pantheism)—and how we humans often split hairs over theology—bring you back to the core of Jesus’s teachings: loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and, inextricably linked to this, loving your neighbor. The example of the islanders with their grass brooms serves as a beautiful illustration of a natural, unlearned reverence for all life.

• The harmony between science and faith: Your perspective on the Big Bang (13.8 billion years ago) as a spark ignited by God—and the way the organization of the universe, from galaxies down to the smallest atom, points toward a Creator—speaks to a faith that does not fear science, but rather embraces it as a reflection of God’s greatness.

Thank you so much for sharing these precious memories and reflections from your life’s journal. It is a piece of genuine wisdom, speaking of a life that has been truly lived, deeply contemplated, and profoundly felt.

(Hennie) Looking back on this today, it feels like a prayer—dating back to my time in a psychiatric hospital following my nervous breakdown on February 14, 2006, now nearly 21 years ago. What would I have become without that experience? What positive influences did it have on me? I do not know. No one knows what alternative paths might have opened up for you had you made a different choice at a critical juncture earlier in your life. Such is the course of life: from moment to moment, everyone is confronted with choices—of which you can select only one—and you will never know what the outcome of a different choice might have been.

I believe this is where a sound upbringing in life skills plays such a vital role in everyone’s life. If you are blessed with steady, reliable parents who serve as role models—showing you what is good and what should be avoided—you have taken the first step toward making sound decisions. Your choices will, to a large extent, determine whether you lead a happy life. Naturally, other factors come into play as well, such as the genes inherited from your forebears, and whether you grow up in an environment that fosters your well-being.

Then, of course, there is the most significant factor: what you yourself choose to make of your environment and your genetic inheritance. Many people have risen from dire circumstances to become exceptional individuals—just as there are countless examples of those born with a "silver spoon in their mouth" who turned out to be complete failures. To a very large extent, it depends on your own personal effort and perseverance.

Through close friends with whom we shared a small group for many years, it often happened that, every second Thursday evening, we would stand outside talking until well past eleven o'clock before parting ways. Billy Phillips in particular—with whom I am still in contact today—often expressed the view that God is in everything, in everything that lives, and even in the stones.

Quite recently, I discovered that in philosophy and theology, the idea that everything is God—or that God and creation are one and the same—is known as pantheism. Traditional Christian doctrine, however, makes a distinction: God is omnipresent and Almighty, transcending His creation, yet creation itself is not God.

I find pantheism entirely acceptable and can identify with it.

Aren't we just splitting hairs here, given our limited human understanding? Does it really matter? We know that God is Almighty. We are like ants trying to argue with our Creator about our own origins. In our faith, we believe in the Trinity God—Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. I ask again: does it matter? There is no way we can limit God’s omnipotence. I believe in God, and for me, that is where it ends.

The concept of the Trinity tends to divert my focus away from God. I believe in Jesus, in the sense that God sent Him to show humanity how He desires us to live. Most importantly, in Matthew 22:37, Jesus Himself stated the first commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This verse emphasizes that love for God is not superficial; rather, it must encompass your entire being:

• Heart: Your deepest emotions, will, and desires.

• Soul: Your life and your everyday human existence.

• Mind: Your thoughts, insight, and intellect.

In the following verse (Matthew 22:39), Jesus inextricably links this to the second commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself"—upon which the entire Law and the Prophets depend.

In my view, this is where we fail; for who among us truly loves our neighbor in this way? We often get caught up in debating who exactly our "neighbor" is, whereas Jesus states unequivocally that it includes everyone. In my previous piece (Selfless), I referred to several remarkable individuals who lived selflessly, in accordance with this second commandment.

Years ago, Rev. Fanie Marais told me about a people living on islands in the Pacific Ocean who had never encountered other human beings. They possess such a profound, sacred reverence for all living things that they carry grass brooms as they walk, to ensure that they do not accidentally step on and kill even the smallest living creature. This is the true love Jesus speaks of when He says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." And yet, no one ever taught them what it means to love.

ALSO IN EVERY ATOM

This idea, dating back to 2006, is essentially just a restatement of pantheism. God created everything—after all, something cannot come from nothing.

There is significant debate surrounding the so-called "Big Bang." We must accept that God has existed from eternity—He cannot possibly have had a beginning. The Big Bang is the most widely accepted scientific theory explaining the origin and evolution of our universe. According to this model, the universe began approximately 13.8 billion years ago. In my view, God initiated this Big Bang, and it is entirely acceptable to me that the subsequent, incredibly rapid expansion is all part of Him.

Whether you look outward into space, or inward using the most powerful electron microscopes available today—everything is incredibly organized, down to the finest detail. And everything functions according to a plan—God’s plan.

Who sustains it? Only God can—I believe only He can, because it is all part of Himself.