Be still

I had the privilege of teaching my fellow saints tonight.  My hope was for it to be less of a "teaching" and more of a "drawing out the Lord from others."

I really enjoyed the time together, and I think we all benefited. I knew we wouldn't get to everything, but I wish we had gotten a little farther into what I hoped we would discuss. But the bright side is that we did not get farther because the saints had a lot to share!

It began by us spending a couple of minutes together actually being still before the Lord.  Then we read a story from NPR about the marathon meditation and walk certain monks go through. We discussed the obvious twists-of-truth in this story compared to what we know of God, but we also talked about the truth of God that we can find in this story.

For instance, there is tremendous intention, purpose, discipline, and commitment in this monk wanting to know God (or be spiritual or whatever). I respect that (and maybe I am somewhat convicted by such dedication). I, on the other hand, tend to treat God as a side issue who can have some of my time if I feel like it.

But oh what a privilege it is to fellowship with the Living God! 

After looking at some scriptures regarding meeting the Lord and being still, we spent the rest of the time together discussing obstacles and successes in spending time with God. It's interesting that we do not tend to talk about our time with God very much, and the truth is we all have a wealth of varied experiences that could really benefit each other.

We couldn't highlight all of those, and we probably just scratched the surface, but I think it was good to gather together and discuss the mysterious ways we come to meet our invisible Lord. Some of it was very practical (go for a walk, turn off the radio, unplug). Some of it was about our hearts (not feeling like life is all up to us).

I had also brought some writings about prayer from Michael Molinos and Jeanne Guyon. We did not have time to go into those together, but I at least made copies for people to read and reflect upon if they so desire.

I do not want us to be alone in learning how to spend alone time with God. We need each other as teachers and fellow learners.