The other day I had quite an unusual experience of the magic of God at play, the language of symbolism as presented by The Way of The Livingness.

I am quite used to leaves and feathers in unusual places; the story of a beetle appearing on a friend’s kneecap after she had told her daughter that her pain felt like a beetle gnawing at her; a huge butterfly majestically gliding past umbrellas and patrons in an outdoor cafe setting in the middle of town, and so the list goes on.

That day I was driving to work and happened to follow a VW Beetle for quite a distance, as there was nowhere to overtake safely. Did I say overtake? This little creature was actually powering along at an amazing pace and the noise from the rear air-cooled engine certainly brought back memories of my first two cars. I could see that this specimen was quite old, an early model, sitting very low, looking very rounded and plumed. When we got to a T-junction I noticed to my amazement and joy that it had no indicator lights but instead the old flicker that poked out of the top side of the car on the pillar between the front and rear seat. I hadn’t seen a Beetle this old in ages, not even in Germany, and here we were in rural NSW, Australia!

I kept enjoying the sound of the motor in front of me for a while longer until the driver turned off the main road and I thought no more of it.

Later that afternoon a call came up on my mobile with no caller ID. I answered and a man said in German: “Hello, I am so and so.” He then proceeded to ask: “Are you the daughter of so and so?” And I said: “No need to ask really, I know who you are.”

The man was calling from Canada, a cousin I hadn’t spoken to in over 30 years; he and his family had seemingly vanished even though I had been especially close to his wife and even lived with them for a while.

As we talked everything was as familiar as though I had only been there the day before; the name of his wife was just there for me, as were the names of their children, as was the name of the street they lived in.

And what does that have to do with God, The Way of The Livingness or the Magic of God?

The Way of The Livingness teaches that we are always held by God, no matter what affiliation or philosophy, what age or profession and regardless of our choice to either align to, or live in active opposition to this constellation. The Way of The Livingness also needs no special buildings where you can commune with God or feel His presence. Being held within the All, which is God, where could you possibly go or be where God is not?

And with the magic of God and the signs and symbols we are continually given, be it in the form of a leaf, a group of kookaburras laughing joyfully, a butterfly gracefully crossing your path or a fly nearly bumping into you – who needs a special consecrated building to commune with God?

All I can say is that the magic of God was very much at play that day. The Beetle had prepared me for something from the past and so the phone call, as unexpected and out of the blue as it was after such a long time, came strangely enough as no surprise, even though it did. No exclamation marks or awkward gaps, gasps of air or excuses – just the lovely ebb and flow in the conversation between three people – my cousin, his wife and me – connecting again after a very long time.

By Gabriele Conrad, Goonellabah, NSW