Meditate vs. Prayer
I was raising in a Catholic home and prayer was always a big part of the church, and it has always been a personal part of my life outside the walls. I’ve had humble prayers, crying prayers, laughing prayers, pleading prayers, begging prayers and times when I just thank God for everything in my life. Haven’t you? You may not have made prayer a routine in your life, but I bet if you’ve had any sudden tragedy in your life, you have caught yourself asking God for help. But we all have had times when we talk to God. However, I sometimes have to wonder. Do you think it’s lonesome for God? Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be on His side? What if you start a new relationship with a friend and tell them, “I’m going to do all the talking, ask all the questions, and do all the complaining. Now I’m not going to give you a chance to answer or listen to your advice. Just be here for me.” How do you suppose that would go? Well, isn’t that how we often base our relationship with God? We expect to do all the talking, complaining, and asking questions, and we rarely take the time to hear what He has to say? In other words, I believe prayer is a one-way street. We talk, and God listens. Doesn’t seem very fair when you think of it that way, right?
So the purpose of this article is to get you to stop and think about meditation for the first time as a way to take the time to hear what God has to say back to you. Don’t think of it as sitting like a pretzel, with chimes ringing, in church, wearing only white with your head covered or with lots of rules and guidelines. Think of meditation as trying to hear God. Period. Why not add it in with your prayer life or start it all together? Try it first thing in the morning before your mind starts racing. Try it with your eyes closed. Try it with your eyes open. Find the best time and place to stop the racing of your mind like solving problems, or making grocery lists, or jobs to do for the day. If you try at the end of the day, you will only think about what has just happened and reprocessing those thoughts. Be gentle and kind on yourself. When your mind starts to wonder, tell yourself, “I can think about that later. But for now, I want to let that issue rest, just these few minutes, and I will worry about that problem when I’m done.” And for heaven’s sake, don’t try to jump in with both feet. Start with 5 or 10 minutes and work up from there. I personally like to pray first to get my worries out to God so I’m more relaxed to find peace during meditation. It seems to work for me. But at the very least, start to meditate in an effort to hear what God has to say to you. After all, how can we hear if our lips are moving? Why did God give us more ears than mouths? I wish you peace, joy and happiness but above all, a closer walk with your higher being. God Bless - Sheila