Article April 30, 2012 Issue

'There is no spot where God is not.'

Judith Hardy Olson

All day we’re getting messages of one kind or another—at work, in school, on the Web, in the media, from friends and total strangers. Some are good and are “keepers.” And a few are so memorable and meaningful they reside permanently with us and impact our lives all along the way. One such message—eight little words I’ve never forgotten—I first heard a long time ago when I was little, on my first day in a Christian Science Sunday School: “There is no spot where God is not.”

I can still see Miss Brown (the teacher) pointing to the words “God is Love” on the Sunday School wall. Then she stretched her arms way out as far as she could, and with a look of pure joy on her face and a lilt in her voice, added, “He fills all space.” She went on and on about how huge God’s love is, how present, how certain, how good, how mighty, and how we could never be outside it. Finally, she ended on an emphatic “There is no spot where God is not!” Three times she said it, and we said it after her.

That’s something a little kid can “get.” It said a lot to me then, and it means even more to me now as an adult and avid Bible lover. More than a catchy phrase or pithy statement, that simple, yet profound truth has come to me over the years more times than I can count, often in moments of doubt, disappointment, sadness, or sickness.

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