Feeling like worship

I'm still reading 'A Long Obedience in the Same Direction' by Eugene Peterson.

He writes, "We live in what one writer has called the 'age of sensation'. We think that if we don't feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting. Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is express in an act of worship. When we obey the command to praise God in worship, our deep, essential need to be in a relationship with God is nurtured. " (page 54)

For someone who lacks feelings, this passage tugs at my heart. I know people, some of them close to me, who struggle with feeling God and so they desperately feel alone. When times are good, God feels close to them, but when times go sour, God tends to feel a little more distant. Not sure how I got the way that I am, but from a young age I learned that feelings don't hold my stability. Truth runs deep; emotions are shallow. Probably why I'm quick to forgive on most occasions. People are genuinely real and good people, until they are proven different. I would stop on the side of the road and help nearly anyone who has a flat tire. I would allow someone who has run down on his luck into my home to get a new start. I don't lock our doors because I don't see a need for it. This is just who I am, trusting and thinking the best of people.

So when does God feel near to me? When I'm standing on a cliff, overlooking the valley below. When I see bears in the wild. When I'm by myself. (Kids are a major distraction when it comes to focusing on my personal relationship with Christ. I love them dearly, but they don't encourage my closeness.) When I'm reading a book where a new truth is revealed to me. When a friend lets me know that I'm out of line. When friends choose to do things with me, even if they are lame things. When I'm hiking through the mountains with my husband. When I'm getting to know people who are different from me, in color and race and language. So many ways God comes close and makes Himself known to me.