INCORPORATING the Word of God, and
the Presence of the Holy Spirit, into the living of our lives: taking a word, a
line, a sentence, a verse, or even a passage of text, and building it into our
daily life.
That’s what this is about: drawing
the eternal Word into the experience
of our lives.
… And that experience is the Presence, being with us, us God-conscious, living
real.
As we blend a sunrise or a sunset
with God’s divine narrative, or consider a cooling breeze in the shade on a hot
summer’s day with the grief imparted from loss, God speaks. God enters the
truth with us, and we receive by listening. God is sensed real. Experience is
ever pertinent.
By our experience of reality, with
his Word listed on our hearts, we live existentially in the rawness of life, which
commands the reformation of our character; grow or die.
Meditation is to be our existential
mood. A prayerful kind of God-consciousness, meditation in the living,
breathing, walking flow of life is the reflexive space within reflection that
we all need. By reflexive space, I
mean self-reflection as we observe ourselves as others or God might (through
his Word), but not in a harmfully judgmental sort of way. We’re after unique
insights that only God can elucidate. Our Lord never speaks in a condemning
way; only for our learning.
Even in the busy swarm of life
there are moments of surreal silence, where a loneliness is ever real, even
where life is noisy and chaotic. This is why a living, breathing, walking form
of meditation is the crucial stratagem for adding God into our emptier life
spaces so otherwise fearful stimuli may be removed. When we have a moment’s
respite it’s easier, actually, to enter into a heart space with God than wallow
in our darkness. We all have a darkness that we’re tempted to go into.
The living, breathing, walking
meditation considers how bizarre life is; it wrestles with the cogency of
reality without fighting it. What is
may be accepted. A Word of hope is introduced or conjured up from a previous
reading. Or, there’s a Word carried in our heart. We learn early on, as we
bring a cognisance of God with us into and through our daily moments, that
we’re free to conjoin meditation with our moments.
Here are some of the ways that I’ve
been able to bring God-consciousness to bear in my living, breathing, walking
moments:
Ø
Out in
nature, on transport, in a new environment, or when imagining other parts of
the world, I ponder the wonder in the plainly observable. Pondering wondrous
things elicits praise. Nothing of us is in the way.
Ø
Downtime is
key reflection time for me. I try to think creatively. Even times in the
bathroom can be put to good use.
Ø
When we’re
able to disappear from life in the world for a short time we’re in prime
location for a Spirit encounter (and may they be plural!).
Ø
Times of
exposure, where there’s the flicker of embarrassment, or when the emotions are
piqued, I ask God mindfully to still my heart before responding. Reflective space,
where God makes himself real in our experience, can be found even at times of
great pressure.
Ø
I try to
see what I do not readily see. “Lord, show me what I’m missing.”
Ø
When my
responses are intuitively graceful I know they’ve not come from the unhealed hurt
me that dwells in me. I’m reminded these responses are from the Source of grace,
himself.
Ø
Reading my
Bible, I seek direction on where to look and what to look for, and I try not to
be swayed too much by human logic.
Engaging momentarily in meditative
reflection enhances our experience of the Presence of God.
Meditating was made for the unclaimed
moment. Accept those moments. Create those moments. Fill those moments with
God.
Take a Word into your moments to
make your moments worthwhile.
A Word is a caption of God-life for
overwhelming perspective.
© 2015 Steve Wickham.
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