|
Return to
Main Page
Return to
Shopping Mini-Mall
Current Sunday
Journal Menu
Archives menu
|
|
KNEE DEEP IN PEACE
8-24-08
The best reward of a spiritual practice is
finding yourself deliciously peaceful most of the time, Each day it
becomes deeper. Sometimes you find yourself so peaceful that the
troubled waters of everyday life cannot take it away.
On my recent birthday, the morning was full of good fellowship with my
engineer brother and funderful sister. Several friends dropped by. I
enjoyed them all so much that you might think I would have been
depressed when everyone left. But I remember having the thought as I was
walking around my house, "Peace is knee-deep in this place!"
It has not always been that way. If there was one word that described me
in my twenties and thirties, it would have been "unpeaceful." I was
actually proud of myself for rushing to and fro and constantly
arm-wrestling with life.
Things started changing for me in my forties when I was unemployed,
freshly divorced and living in a one room apartment. Yes, it looks like
that was a strange time and place to find peace and it may sound
complicated to go from constant inner turmoil to peace but it was this
simple: I consciously turned my life over to God.
I could see that I needed help. Despite all my nervous energy and head
knocking with life, I was unpeaceful and going nowhere.
In one of the most aware and conscious moments of my life, I simply
turned my life over to God. I was an intellectual agnostic about much of
religion's paraphernalia but I had experienced some things that
convinced me God could be real. I just based my commitment on that
knowledge.
Then I made a deal with God - the kind of deal that made me pay
attention to God's activity in my life. It went like this: I said, "If
you will become real in my life, I will walk through any doors You open
and when one does not open, I will not try to force it."
See how this forced me to be attentive? Daily I was looking for those
open doors. When I hit a wall, I didn't try to install a door. This
daily communion brought a firm realization of God's presence. When you
spend your days seeing and feeling the Presence in your life, it brings
both guidance and peace.
It brings the peace of knowing your commitment is being honored by God.
How can we not be peaceful when we find that communion of inner knowing?
My friend and fellow spiritual explorer, Al Harvey, calls God his
"manager." He's always telling someone, "I'll check with my Manager
about that." Life becomes so beautiful when you spend your days being
open to the leadings of your Manager.
Adopt spiritual practices that nurture your communion with your Manager.
My main ones are meditation, journaling, reading for spiritual food, and
fellowship with people who are also on the spiritual path, seeking Truth
and open to guidance from the Omnipresent Manager.
I will not try to tell you the spiritual practices that are right for
you but I will say it is my experience that the highest form of prayer
is meditation. Most people see prayer as talking to God. Meditation is
listening. If you had a manager of your career and you were constantly
jabbering in his ear but never listening to him, what kind of help could
he give you? God doesn't need our words. We need His thoughts and Light
in our inner being.
I knew a man who prayed so loud you could hear him a block away. He saw
God as separate and a little hard of hearing. God is just the opposite:
He is the very Reality of our being. He is the Love Whisper in our
souls.
Structure your spiritual practices to make your communion with your
Creator, Friend and Manager real. Listen for the Love Whisper.
|
