When I was a child barely three years old, before I even knew who or what God is, my mother told me God is everywhere. She didn’t even tell me God exists in heaven, because that would mean explaining the meaning of heaven. How would a child understand what heaven is? And telling a child about heaven and hell is not a wise thing to do, my mother seemed to have figured out.

I tried to tell my son when he turned three what my mother had told me. But he asked me, “But why is God everywhere? Show me, show me, God.” I had no explanation and couldn’t show him God. So, he got busy with his toys, but said cutely, “Daddy, you don’t know, no?

I smiled in reply. “After I finish playing, tell me another nice story,” he said. I was delighted. At least, he thought the ‘God Is Everywhere’ concept a nice story.

Isn’t it nice to know that God is everywhere? If we believe that God is everywhere, we will learn to see Him in happiness and sorrow, in good and bad, in the beautiful and the ugly, in love and hate, in friends and enemies, in war and in peace, in richness and poverty; in our heart, mind and soul.

As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of the mind, happiness and distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy—all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone.” (10.4-5)

There’s God in the innocent smile of a child. God is present in a butterfly, in the smallest of living creatures, as well as in big animals. If we believe that God is everywhere, we may be blessed with the understanding about who God really is, what He really is.

Then we may not have to look for God in heaven; because we don’t know where heaven is. But we do know where earth is. By believing that God is everywhere here on this earth, He becomes more understandable. When we feel God’s presence around us, it follows that He is within us too. And if He is within us, He must be within people around us, because He is everywhere and in every person.

Lord Krishna says in the Gita, “I am the Supersoul, O Arjuna, seated in the hearts of all living entities. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.” (10.20)

We may be able to feel God’s presence, by understanding His love for us, as has been written about Him in the Bible: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed.” (Isaiah 54:10) In the Quran, God is described as Al-Wadoud: The All-Loving God.

Borrowing from Lionel Richie’s song, I just heard God say:

“Hello, is it me you’re looking for?

I can see it in your eyes

I can see it in your smile

You’re all I’ve ever wanted

And my arms are open wide

‘Cause you know just what to say

 And you know just what to do

 And I want to tell you so much, I love you.”

God, indeed, is Love Divine; and as He is everywhere, we have a world full of love!