onthly MeditationMeditation for November 2010
Leave a comment at the bottom if you wish.
Judith reads:
Some mornings, in your quiet time, you may be moved by the Holy Spirit to spend time in contemplation. Though the words meditation and contemplation are often used interchangeably there is a difference.
Meditation involves thinking about God and his attributes whereas contemplation is simply a matter of looking at God in total adoration. In contemplation one is filled up completely with one's love for God. In contemplation one simply sits or kneels in God's presence and looks at God with an overflowing, loving heart, receiving God's abundance. Let all that I am wait quietly before God, it says in Psalm 62: 5.
In bringing your whole being—all that you are—before God and waiting quietly, you begin to see beyond surface seeing; you begin to see with the eye of the soul. The eye of the soul sees with unpredictability; it sees God untamed by human images; it sees God in out of the ordinary reflections, through God's amazing freedom, in all his beauty and generosity.
Contemplation does not involve words but, because we are thinking beings, we may still need words to move into a contemplative state. It is unlikely that we could come directly from a thinking state and enter into a state of adoration without some transition.
A few simple steps will help you move into contemplating God.
Sit comfortably with your back straight, your feet flat on the floor, your hands cupped in your lap.
Close your eyes.
Be aware of your breathing but do not seek to change it.
Say the following three phrases, in your mind or out loud, with gaps of silence between the phrases.
- Let my body be still…still …
- Let my breath be quiet…quiet …
- Let my heart beat be steady …steady …
Continue these phrases with increasing gaps of silence until such time as your brain doesn't jump in to fill the silent gaps with thoughts.
Once you are in contemplation, continue there as long as you are able, giving thanks to God at its end.
© Judith Lawrence November 2010
Leave a comment:
Meditations in the Archive
