Three Months to Go
Below is the article I wrote for Trinity's monthly newsletter. I don't usually intentionally repeat things in this blog, but I thought this might be appropriate as we all make the turn into the last three months of 2008....
...My guess is that some of us have already inscribed various activities, appointments, commitments and deadlines in our 2009 calendars. Days pass in a blur of activity. There doesn’t seem to be any time to stop and reflect on anything. And with an election looming, stock market volatility and economic insecurity, the temptation could be to simply move faster and faster – hurdling at the speed of life with a gut-full of anxiety toward that nonexistent time known as “the future”.
Some of us are looking back over the year, scratching our heads and plaintively asking, “Where did all the time go?” There are plenty of items yet to scratch off our to-do lists. The goals we set for ourselves way back in January never even got off the ground. Clarity has eluded us yet again. We are tired (perhaps even exhausted!) and feel as though nothing has changed for all the energy we have expended. We feel the pangs of guilt and regret at all those things yet left undone. We are bogged down in self-recriminations over that nonexistent time known as “the past”.
I suspect many of us spend good portions of our days either being anxious about tomorrow or remorseful about yesterday. The contemplative traditions of all major religions remind us that only by becoming aware of the present moment do we inhabit some sense of what it means to be in the presence of God. So I challenge you to try a bit of a prayer experiment for the next three months.
For five minutes each day, pull yourself away from the computer, turn off the cell phone, silence the Blackberry, darken the television set, and mute the radio. Get by a window. Watch a bird. Watch the clouds. Watch the children in your neighborhood walking home from school. Follow the flight of a falling leaf. Sit still! Breathe! Give thanks to God for “the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life and for the mystery of love.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 836)
Prayer doesn’t need to be longwinded or difficult, but it does take time. Can we afford to take five minutes to revel in the presence of God? Can we afford not to?
Below is the article I wrote for Trinity's monthly newsletter. I don't usually intentionally repeat things in this blog, but I thought this might be appropriate as we all make the turn into the last three months of 2008....
...My guess is that some of us have already inscribed various activities, appointments, commitments and deadlines in our 2009 calendars. Days pass in a blur of activity. There doesn’t seem to be any time to stop and reflect on anything. And with an election looming, stock market volatility and economic insecurity, the temptation could be to simply move faster and faster – hurdling at the speed of life with a gut-full of anxiety toward that nonexistent time known as “the future”.
Some of us are looking back over the year, scratching our heads and plaintively asking, “Where did all the time go?” There are plenty of items yet to scratch off our to-do lists. The goals we set for ourselves way back in January never even got off the ground. Clarity has eluded us yet again. We are tired (perhaps even exhausted!) and feel as though nothing has changed for all the energy we have expended. We feel the pangs of guilt and regret at all those things yet left undone. We are bogged down in self-recriminations over that nonexistent time known as “the past”.
I suspect many of us spend good portions of our days either being anxious about tomorrow or remorseful about yesterday. The contemplative traditions of all major religions remind us that only by becoming aware of the present moment do we inhabit some sense of what it means to be in the presence of God. So I challenge you to try a bit of a prayer experiment for the next three months.
For five minutes each day, pull yourself away from the computer, turn off the cell phone, silence the Blackberry, darken the television set, and mute the radio. Get by a window. Watch a bird. Watch the clouds. Watch the children in your neighborhood walking home from school. Follow the flight of a falling leaf. Sit still! Breathe! Give thanks to God for “the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life and for the mystery of love.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 836)
Prayer doesn’t need to be longwinded or difficult, but it does take time. Can we afford to take five minutes to revel in the presence of God? Can we afford not to?
posted by FrGaryB | 5:45 AM
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