God is Life: Reflecting on the Sacredness of Being Alive

Sunday Awe

This is the first installment of a three-week mini-series on “God is Life,” “God is Light,” and “God is Love.” While these phrases may seem clichéd, it is easy to overlook the profound depth they convey.

To say “God is Life” is to affirm the sacredness inherent in every breath, every heartbeat, and every moment of existence. Life itself is a miracle—an unexplainable, intricate, and interconnected web of being that pulses with energy. From the mitochondria in our cells to the sprouting acorn and the massive blue whale, all of creation reflects the life-giving presence of God.

When we pause to reflect on the simple fact that we are alive, we encounter a profound mystery: the mystery of being and conscious existence. Last week, we explored God as the Ground of Being, the life-force that sustains everything. This life-force, which is God, is not distant or removed but intimately present in the very fabric of our being—in the breath that fills our lungs, the energy that fuels our cells, and the beating of our hearts. God is not only the Source of our life but is, in fact, our life.

To see God as Life invites us to approach the world with awe and reverence. It calls us to recognize the sacredness of our own existence and the lives of others. Each person, each creature, and even the natural world itself becomes a reflection of the Divine. When we honor the sanctity of life, we step into a deeper awareness of our connection to everything and everyone around us through the Spirit of God.

This understanding also carries a responsibility. If life is sacred, then how we live matters. We are invited to care for this precious gift—not only within ourselves but in all forms of life. Acts of kindness, compassion, and love become acts of worship—ways of honoring the Source of Life that dwells within us and all creation.

Ultimately, to reflect on God as Life is to awaken to the wonder of being alive. It is to recognize that every moment is infused with divine purpose and possibility—even those moments filled with pain and sorrow. It is to trust that the same Life that brought us into being will continue to sustain, provide for, and guide us now and forever.

Monday Awe: The Breath of Life

• St. Gregory of Nazianzus: “The soul is the breath of God, a divine essence that gives life to the body.” (Orations)
• Meister Eckhart: “God’s spirit flows through all things, as life flows through the veins of the world.” (Sermons and Treatises)
• Julian of Norwich: “In God’s sight, we live forever, for we are kept by His unending love.” (Revelations of Divine Love)
• Bhagavad Gita 15:7: “An eternal portion of Myself, having become a living soul, enters into the world of life.” (The Bhagavad Gita)
• Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: How does recognizing God’s breath within you inspire reverence for life?

Action to Take: Take a deep breath and spend five minutes in quiet meditation, focusing on the gift of life within you.

Tuesday Awe: Life as Sacred Gift

• Catherine of Siena: “Life is the holy arena in which the soul encounters God’s grace.” (The Dialogue of Divine Providence)
• St. Francis of Assisi: “Praise be to you, my Lord, for our sister, Mother Earth, who sustains us and produces all manner of fruits.” (Canticle of the Sun)
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Life belongs to God, for it is given to us as grace and entrusted as responsibility.” (Ethics)
• Rumi: “With life’s first cry, the soul remembers God’s love, for all life returns to the Beloved.” (The Essential Rumi)
• Tao Te Ching 1: “The Tao gives birth to all things, sustains them, and nourishes them until their return.”
• Psalm 36:9:“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: How does recognizing life as sacred transform your daily actions?

Action to Take: Write down three ways you can honor the sacredness of life in your day-to-day routine.

Wednesday Awe: The Interdependence of All Life

• Thomas Merton: “Every being exists in interconnection, reflecting the unity of God’s creation.” (New Seeds of Contemplation)
• St. Basil the Great: “The earth, the air, and the seas—every part of creation—is interwoven with God’s handiwork.” (Hexaemeron)
• Simone Weil: “All creatures are like leaves on the tree of God, trembling in the same life-breath.” (Gravity and Grace)
• Albert Einstein: “Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” (Ideas and Opinions)
• Odes of Solomon 16:2: “The breath of the Most High has given them life, and they have received strength from His Spirit.”
• Acts 17:25: “He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: What does it mean for you to be interconnected in life?

Action to Take: Spend time in nature today, observing the ways all living things rely on one another.

Thursday Awe: God as the Sustainer of Life

• St. Augustine: “The life of the soul is in God; He sustains and nourishes all that exists.” (Confessions)
• Jean-Pierre de Caussade: “The present moment is always filled with infinite grace, for God sustains us at all times.” (The Sacrament of the Present Moment)
• Maximus the Confessor: “The cosmos is sustained by God, who breathes life into all that is.” (Ambigua to John)
• Rabindranath Tagore: “God’s life-giving spirit is the pulse of existence, renewing all things endlessly.” (Gitanjali)
• Isaiah 42:5: “This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: How does knowing God sustains all life change how you see your own existence?

Action to Take: Reflect on how God provides for you and express gratitude in prayer today.

Friday Awe: The Sacred Cycle of Life

• Henri Nouwen: “All life moves in the sacred rhythm of birth, growth, death, and renewal, drawn toward God.” (The Way of the Heart)
• St. John of Damascus: “God weaves the threads of life, bringing beauty through the passage of time.” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith)
• T.S. Eliot: “In my beginning is my end. In my end is my beginning.” (Four Quartets)
• Evagrius Ponticus: “Life’s cycle is a reflection of God’s eternal wisdom, guiding all things back to Him.” (Chapters on Prayer)
• Rig Veda 10.129: “From the eternal came all things, and to the eternal shall they return.”
• Ecclesiastes 12:7: “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: In what ways do you accept or resist the cycle of life?

Action to Take: Think of someone you know (maybe even yourself) that is struggling with accepting their current place in the cycle of life and do something to affirm or encourage them.

Saturday Awe. God is Life: Reflecting on the Sacredness of Being Alive

• St. Gregory of Nazianzus: “The soul is the breath of God, a divine essence that gives life to the body.” (Orations)
• Albert Einstein: “Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” (Ideas and Opinions)
• St. Augustine: “The life of the soul is in God; He sustains and nourishes all that exists.” (Confessions)
• St. John of Damascus: “God weaves the threads of life, bringing beauty through the passage of time.” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith)
• Psalm 36:9: “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: What does it mean for God to be my life?

Action to Take: Do something today to honor the sacredness of life in another living being.