GOD WORKS WITH JOY

Do you have to “find” time to pray and meditate? Nothing is more important than our relationship with the Divine. Our relationship existed before we were born into this flesh and continues beyond its return to the dust. Nothing takes precedence over the work required of us to build and maintain our conscious contact with God. Feeling a bit sheepish? Good.

Now, do you pray and meditate out of duty? Kinda like doing the dishes or the laundry? Relieved when it is finished so you can get on with what you really want to do? Feeling a bit sheepish? Good. Praying and meditating out of duty is better than no prayer or meditation, but just barely. Understand this truth: We are never out of the sight of God. God does not suddenly turn His gaze toward us when we pray and meditate. Prayer and meditation is not for God, it is for us. God is prayer and meditation personified. When we pray by rote, reciting them as a parrot would, we reap as the parrot reaps. Though fed and cared for, we remain in a cage. If your prayers have become stale, your meditations tedious take a break. Simplify your prayers to the point of asking only to be shown His will this day. A prayer of “Please Father, guide my hands, my heart and my mind today, so that I may best serve you and my fellows. Amen” said earnestly carries more weight than a dozen memorized prayers said while the mind is wandering to other things. Additionally there is a no more powerful prayer than “Thank you God”, said form the heart.

For meditation, open any spiritual book that appeals to you and read a line or two, never more than a paragraph. Take a few cleansing breaths and then quietly consider what was read in your minds eye. When your mind starts to wander, gently bring it back to what was read. When it begins to wander again, thank God for the time spent and go about your day. Keep it simple. In time, your prayers will change as your consciousness rises and you will look forward to your quiet moments with God. Always remember: Do not struggle. This is not work, not something to “get done” so we can do something more important to us. There is nothing more important. Pray with a feather and meditate with joy in your heart, for you are not only in the Presence of the Infinite, you are part of it.