About 25 years ago, I led a session for high school students from the parish I attended at the time. The topic was God, faith and youth. I trotted out a lyric to spur discussion. The students responded well. Some parents smiled, others seemed less enthused at my choices. I was not invited back for another session, but I stand by my message. The benefits outweighed the risk.

I cited a song that I heard when I was 16, pretty much the age of the students I hoped to provoke into insightful conversation. From Jethro Tull’s Aqualung album, the song “My God” provided this excerpt:

So I asked this God a question

and by way of firm reply,

He said — I’m not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.

Lyrics are always ripe for interpretation. To me, the message here was that God is not a Sunday-only God. He is every day, to which I interpolated that He is not just every day, but every moment. Just as importantly, He tells us as much if we listen to life, to creation, to the moments and events in our lives. We can constantly recognize God’s presence, not so much in the howling winds (1 Kings 19:11-12), but in the quiet whispers of life.

I am sure that there are many interpretations of the song. So be it. The song had been out three years when I discovered it, and amidst its complicated messaging, I find the lines above as a gem in the rubble of the songwriter’s cynicism. God’s wisdom hides in unlikely places, but we are the richer for seeking it daily…and not just on Sundays.