STILLNESS AND MEDITATION

Dear Friends:

Last week while I was on retreat, we had the opportunity to see the raptor flight at the Sonora Desert Museum. I had no idea what to expect. When we arrived we were given instructions to stand on one side or the other of a narrow, roped off section, to hold as still as we could, and to keep our cameras at eye level or below. Something about the birds thinking we were prey convinced me this advice was sound!

The raptors were amazing! The crew worked together like choreographed dancers, strategically putting out food for the birds on the limbs of trees near us. Viewers were still and awestruck. It was a thing of beauty.

Eventually I figured out to turn my back on the raptor to face the crew member putting out the next piece of food so that I could get a good picture of the bird when it came in. What I didn’t know is what it would feel like to have the birds fly so low and so close to me. I could not see them fly in from behind me. But I could feel the brush of their wings through my hair. It was light and amazing and not at all scary. There was a delight in feeling this unexpected breeze through my hair.

I think the gift of God’s Spirit can be much like that when it flies into our lives and our life circumstances. We may have our back to God or to the thing that God is calling us toward. But still the Spirit can come into our lives, sometimes as a soft and gentle reassurance. The Spirit can breeze past all of the chaos to gain our attention toward a solution or an idea or a yearing we didn’t know was there. Perhaps like the raptor show, sometimes we need to put ourselves in the right place and stand still long enough to let the Spirit come to us and show us this marvelous next thing.

We have been discerning what spiritual habits can help us reset our souls. One that we haven’t talked about is the discipline of stillness and meditation. It is the practice of sitting still and opening our hearts and minds to receive what God has to say to us. So often in prayer we have a litany of things we want to be sure we say to God. A prayer for a sick relative or a thanksgiving for blessings. These prayers are important. So, too, is the spiritual habit of stillness and meditation that listens for what God wants to say to us. 

In a culture that rewards busyness, sitting still for 10 minutes seems reckless.  But what if we made that a routine part of our day? What if we spent 10 minutes just being in God’s presence and listening to God without multitasking or contemplating our to-do list? How might the Spirit of God breeze into your life and life circumstances? How might you find new ways to love and be loved by God? How might this focused time of listening refocus your day and reset your soul?

I encourage you to give it a try! Find a comfortable and quiet space to rest your body in meditation.  Avoid the temptation to fill the space with music or artificial sounds. Just sit still and see how God’s Spirit breezes into your thoughts. You can even choose a breath prayer (a short phrase like “be still and know”) to bring you back when your mind wanders away. The spiritual habit of stillness and meditation may be the spiritual habit that really does reset your soul to help you find the light and free living that Jesus promises us.  Give it a try!

Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo