God's Dwelling Place

by Skinner G. Layne

I sought to find God's dwelling place
Where I could see His eyes
I sought Him in the sanctuaries
And then sought Him in the skies.
I thought I might see Him caught up
In the clouds or in the stars--
Perhaps He lived on Venus,
Or maybe sat on Mars.
I searched a thousand pages
In the libraries of the Earth,
In the Wisdom of the ages
Through sadness and through mirth.
I sought to find God's dwelling place
In the mountains and the hills
Coursing through the rivers
Or trickling in the rills.
The words of men proclaimed to know
The dwelling place of He
Who built all that we know
And made all that we see.
But I was led astray by those
Who claimed to know God's space
Where He reigns and rules the world
In some celestial place.
That esoteric nebulae
That opaque fluffy cloud,
Where I was told God hid His face
Behind some ethereal shroud.
I was told that God was great--
Too great to understand
Yet those preachers claimed they knew
How God counts the sand.
They said I was God's beloved
And He would not let go of me,
Unless I didn't follow
This and that decree.
The more I listened to them,
The less I understood,
About where God dwelt
Or if He was even good.
So I left more disillusioned
About the God I sought
I feared I wouldn't find Him
And therefore was distraught.
So despairing failure there I sat
And loathed the sands of time,
Lamenting my loss of hope
And those deceivers' crime.
But too soon had I surrendered
My life-long dream and quest
And learned that marv'lous secret
That to me was confessed:
God exists eternally
With no nacense and no end
And does not dwell in clouds or mount
For all this He transcends.
But God does have a dwelling place
And one that can be found,
Though not in sea or sky
Or built upon the ground.
Look for Him neither to nor fro,
Nor down and up above,
For God's eternal dwelling place
Is wherever there is Love.