God is not a distant God, somewhere out there beyond our reach, deaf and dead to the world in which we live. He is present in the world which is the work of his hands. If creation is his handiwork, then beauty is his handwriting. We do not have to invent God; rather, we need to discover him because he is closer to us than we are to ourselves. If only we could open our eyes to behold him and our ears to listen to him as he speaks to us in sound and in silence. These reflections, rooted in the ordinariness of everyday things, will awaken and arouse the mystic in each of us to encounter him and, despite the hectic pace and pattern of our life, will help us breathe more deeply and live more fully!