What’s With “God Rides the Bus”?

I  acknowledge the irony of the conception.  For how and why would God, an All-Mighty, Perfect, and Unlimited Being, choose to rely on public transportation?  But setting aside the initial preposterousness of the idea, I know that He does.  In fact, God has a bus pass.  

Materially speaking, for the most part we bus riders are lacking.  We don’t have the means to provide for our own transportation, among other things.  But so the better for us.  Because of our meager means, we are also unburdened by the distractions of affluence – car payments, maintenance, and insurance, not to mention imposing requests for rides from ungrateful family members and friends or the frustrating actions of other drivers.  Tangents such as these aside, in addition to not being able to afford the amassing of needless possessions or engaging in idle entertainments, we are able to focus on our true purpose in life – to know God.

As a corollary to our material poverty, we are a spiritually poor lot as well.  In some cases, our material failures have stemmed from a lack of spirituality and consequent choices of self-centeredness.  In this sense, we are ripe for a change and represent opportunities for God to enter into and fulfill us.  And because of our hardships and what we often find to be a lack of meaning and value in the world, we are inspired to seek God and a better way of life.

But opportunities for the fostering of a relationship with God aren’t the only ones which exist on the bus.  The difficulties and struggles we sense amongst ourselves provide for opportunities as well – opportunities to think and act lovingly and be of service to others.  This, in turn, leads to opportunities to pray for each other.  With that said, below is a prayer which I penned for those I encounter who seem to be in need:

God, grant these people Your Love

and that of those amongst them;

provide that they receive

and feel this Love.

May they be acted towards

and act towards others

according to Your Loving Values of

Acceptance, Compassion, Forgiveness, and Understanding.

Provide them with opportunities to Love

and be of service to others.

In times of hardship and suffering

Bless them with calm, peace, and hope.

Bestow upon them knowledge of Your Will

and the strength to carry it out.

Amen.