| It was many years ago. The boy was not more | | | | The boy, with a puzzled expression, looked at his |
| than ten years old as he stood beside the man | | | | father and asked: "How can this force, this God, |
| that early morning. They were both standing on | | | | be within me and at the same time be in |
| the shore of the Atlantic looking east toward the | | | | everything else I see?" |
| rising sun. The chill morning air caused a slight | | | | "Because," the man replied, "God is in everything |
| shiver to run through the boy. The man, seeming | | | | and everyone. God is in you and in me, in those |
| to know without even looking, took off his jacket | | | | gulls you see over there, in the sand under our |
| and draped it over the small shoulders of his son. | | | | feet and the lilies of the field. God is everywhere |
| They walked up to the water's edge as the man | | | | and everything, and there cannot be two |
| spoke: "You see that wide expanse of water? It | | | | everything. God is a part of you just like the drop |
| is made of billions of gallons, and each gallon is | | | | of water is a part of this ocean. Remember this |
| made of tens of thousands of drops." | | | | well and you will grow up to have a sense of |
| The little boy seemed curious. "And what are the | | | | peace, joy and understanding." |
| drops made of?" he asked. | | | | Decades have passed since I stood on that shore |
| With a smile, the man replied: "The drops are | | | | with my father. I have since traveled to many |
| made of smaller and smaller drops, and each in | | | | countries, lived in various cultures, and |
| turn is made of bits and pieces of things that | | | | experienced deep sorrow and great joy. I have |
| make the very world we live in." | | | | seen the best and the worst of my fellow human |
| "What am I made of, Dad?" the boy asked after | | | | beings, Yet, through it all, I could hear the voice of |
| a short while. "Am I made of the same stuff as | | | | my father telling me: "God is everywhere and |
| the ocean?" | | | | everything, and there cannot be two everything." |
| The father smiled as he replied: "Everything is | | | | As a young boy, I grew up in a small village of |
| made of everything else, and everything is a part | | | | Hindus, Christians, Moslems and others. I learned |
| of other things. As you stand here this morning, | | | | at a very early age that all people are shipmates |
| you are a part of this land, this shore, this ocean. | | | | on the common voyage of life and that one |
| Look at that tree, the sky. They are parts of the | | | | cannot sink one's shipmates without sinking |
| very me and the eternal "I". There is a force that | | | | oneself. As I studied the Vedic writings and |
| keeps us together. Some call that force God, | | | | compared them with the words of the Hebrew |
| others, Allah, Jehovah, or Jove. There are a | | | | prophets and the teachings of the New |
| thousand names for this force, but it doesn't | | | | Testament Apostles, I found that the common |
| matter what it's called. It just is. As you grow | | | | thread running through them all was love. The |
| older and wiser, you will find the stirring of this | | | | greatest commandment ever given was "Love |
| mighty force within you. You will know that it's | | | | your God and love one another" - all others are |
| always there, and that you're safe and happy | | | | simply variations on that theme. |
| within it." | | | | |