The ability of God to plant himself within the flesh of humankind was an attribute of God from the beginning, so in a very real sense we were with God from the beginning. The soul that resides in each of us is none other than the essence of God which is and was and shall be, having no beginning and no end.
The God-in-us that was alive from the beginning, and has been alive in us since our birth, needs a second birth—a birth into our conscious awareness. This spiritual birth, much like our physical parturition, involves risk and suffering. As the fetus must make the journey through the narrow birth canal, leaving the warm womb and risking asphyxiation in the passage, our spiritual birth involves the decision to leave the present protective will power of consciousness, trusting something within and beyond us to get us through the confines of this second birth canal.
God is not satisfied until his essence is part of our conscious awareness. Only then can he reveal himself to us in ways that give us the fullness of life he has for us. Only then can he think his thoughts in us and through us. Only then can he infuse us with his kind of creative energy so that our work and play become intertwined, transforming us into beings whose greatest joy is simply being.
(Note: a story of transformation that is available to everyone is found on this website under book)
Ann Glover O'Dell 