Spring is such a beautiful season. Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, the temperature is comfortable and our gardens are once again getting our attention and time.

Our world is filled with magic, mystery and majesty. If we open our eyes and open our heart then we will notice the beauty around us and hopefully express our gratitude for our many blessings.

I plant seeds, cultivate them, watch them grow and care for them, then eat what they produce. It was like raising my two sons except I didn’t consume them. … Instead they are both off in college! Both experiences, though, were and still are magical, mysterious and majestic … in other words, Godly.

Yet, we see throughout our world people chanting God’s name in various forms and languages while performing acts of hatred and violence. It is enough to make us ask what God are we talking about. Is this really God or is this just another example of extremists gone wild? Maybe we should leave God out of this kind of conversation.

One of my favorite songs was one I heard at our annual folk festival here in Bangor. Several years ago, the Klezmatics came to play their klezmer style of music.

Klezmer is East European Jewish jazz. They performed “I Ain’t Afraid,” written by Holly Near, a feminist singer and songwriter I have been listening to since my college days. The song reads in part, “I ain’t afraid of your Yahweh, I ain’t afraid of your Allah, I ain’t afraid of your Jesus, I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your god. Rise up to your higher power, Free up from fear it will devour you, Watch out for the ego of the hour, The ones who say they know it, Are the ones who will impose it on you. Rise up and find the higher story, Free up from the gods of war and glory. …”

So what is God? God needs commentary, thought, explanation, exploration and understanding. I began by saying that our world is filled with magic, mystery and majesty. This is, in part, how I understand God, how I understand that which is unknowable and indefinable.

Last week we had our annual furnace cleaning so that our furnace will be ready for next winter, run at maximum efficiency and burn less oil. The service man who came by was a Marine Corps veteran. We talked a bit as I usually do when people come by to help me out.

“I don’t believe in God,” he told me. “Look at our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and how so many of our wars and conflicts are in God’s name. I think if we stopped teaching about religion and God and taught science instead, our world would begin to be a more peaceful place.”

You know, I agree with him! I cannot understand how so many people turn this concept of a God around to mean that they have the only true answer and we all better get on board otherwise they will impose that answer on us.

The only way I know how to understand God is by noticing the beauty around us and marveling at it … and, showing my gratitude for it. This is the mystery, the magic, the majesty. This is seen and felt in experiencing the birth of a child, in touching another person lovingly, in nurturing a garden, in smelling a fragrant flower, in tasting a delicious fruit or vegetable, in hearing the varied sounds of the birds and by caring for a parent as she or he dies. I think if more of us were able to experience these wonders, then we would have a less violent and extreme world. More of us really do need to get out and “smell the roses.”

What does God mean? How can we understand this concept in a way that is both intellectually and emotionally honest?

This is our challenge. It is our challenge to find a way to take God out of our conflicts and replace it with what is really the cause: Hatred.

Have a wonderful spring. Enjoy your gardens and, please, take the time to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of the flowers.

Rabbi Barry Krieger is the rabbinic facilitator for the Hillel organization at the University of Maine in Orono. He may be reached via bkrieger56@aol.com. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.