“The presence of God is an eternal fact. He never leaves us alone or forsakes us. It is when we lose sight of Him that we falter and sink beneath the waves. We need to regain a clear vision of the Presence, to perceive the reality of His relationship with us and act upon it.”

He never leaves us or forsakes us. We cannot slip out of His love and care.

“Faith is the discovery that He is at hand: “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Faith is the joy of knowing that we dwell in Him and He in us. You cannot imagine this, you cannot even make it happen, but you can experience it as a fact. It is necessary to keep ourselves sensitive, what the Celt calls “to tune the five-stringed harp”, to keep our fives senses alert to the fact of God and His surrounding presence.”

Circle me O God
Keep hope within
Despair without.
Circle me O God
Keep peace within
Keep turmoil out.
Circle me O God
Keep calm within
Keep storms without.
Circle me O God
Keep strength within
Keep weakness out.

David Adam talks of becoming in tune to God and his presence. He described the encircling Caim of the Celts which was “but an expression of the reality of the presence of God.”

God’s mercy and grace to us are very great. I am surrounded by the power and the presence of God – even though I may feel distressed, distraught, or abandoned.

“The Caim works¦ to re-tune us to the reality of the love and presence of God.”

The Divine Presence is always with us. There is never a time when He isn’t. But we need to be switched on and tuned to Him much like a radio needs to be switched on to receive the radio waves which are always present in the air. We switch on by calling upon Him.
Call upon Father God. Like a little child carrying a load too heavy for it we carry loads our Father wants to carry for us. He watches and waits, ready to help lift the load when we finally call out to Him. He’s more than big enough to carry both us and the load – and He will if we let Him.

Call upon Jesus, our Saviour. He has conquered death. He has conquered the worst this world can serve up. The wounds in His hands are eternal reminders that He can bear any load that we can hand on to Him for He already has borne the worst and heaviest – our sin.

Call upon the Holy Spirit. He is our counsellor, our comforter. He changes us from dry bones, from dust and ashes, from the worst that we are (imagined or real) to a person with a true reality.

A Caim slightly modified with which to begin the day:

The encircling of God is with me
The encircling Power of the Creator.
The enfolding of Christ be round me
The enfolding arms of His love.
The encompassing of the Spirit be round me
The encompassing of the Strength of God.

At the beginning of each day we arise in His presence. Like the sun rising above the horizon filling the land with light and the freshness of a new day so His presence rises for us as we call upon Him tuning our whole being to Him – encircling, enfolding, encompassing us.

“[He] is not a God of the remote past, a historical God, nor is [He] a God of the distant future, but a God who is near at hand ready to help. He is our God today. It is today that we are able to meet Him.”

Exercise:

Practice the Caim. Know that we dwell in Him and He in us.

Your Presence is in my life
Your Presence is all around me
Your Presence is Peace.
Your Presence is in my house
Your Presence is all around me
Your Presence is Peace.
Your Presence is in my work
Your Presence is all around me
Your Presence is Peace.

Choose new statements for the first line to express where you need to affirm His Presence. Change the last word of the last line. Substitute whatever gift of His Presence you seek.

(The Cry of the Deer. Meditations on the hymn of St Patrick. By David Adam. 1987. Harrisburg, PA: Moorehouse Publishing. p12-14, 16, 18, )