RIGHT HERE!! RIGHT HERE!!

“Be still and know that I am God.”

All God asks of us is simply to be still. So often we are trying to fill our lives with activities to keep us entertained. Then we wonder why we keep falling into sin. Possibly we are falling into the wrong things, or even the wrong crowd. Maybe when we sin we are pursuing the wrong ends. Simply put, God is the highest end, an end in itself. Why not pursue Him in all that we do.

But how can we know God? Do just as he says: “Be still.” At times I find myself pursuing an end that is not as productive as God. So then I begin to look for ways to find and pursue God while interacting with others. I also look for ways to become God myself. But in all of this, it is so easy for me to forget the ones right in front of me. That’s right; I get so busy looking for God that I miss him right in front of my face. Why do I need to look for tasks to find God in, when he is only a phone call away? All I have to do is get out my cell phone, choose a name, and hit send.

“Be still,” he says, “for I am right in front of your face!”

coffee, chairs, and long hair

There are many things that are needed for good reflective prayer with the scriptures. Unfortunately, I found out one of them the hard way. A good environment is definitely needed. For some this may mean silence. For me, a little noise in the background, such as a TV on the other side of a wall, is fine. A bad place for me to pray, however, is a room filled with artwork and books that are not religious. One night on my silent retreat, I made the mistake of going into a parlor room filled with sculptures, pottery, paintings, books, you name it. It was a newly remodeled room, and a nice one at that. But there was a book sitting in front of me calling my name the whole time. Of course, if I had not looked at the book before praying, my mind may have been set at ease. But instead, my mind was amazed at all of the ante-bellum buildings in the area that I had not seen yet. Instead of focusing on the eighteenth chapter of Genesis, I was instead thinking of the best way to get over to Sacred Heart Academy, which was built in the 1830s!

My point—when going to pray, a suitable environment must be picked out. It must be one that you know you will be able to concentrate in for a given period of time. If you cannot concentrate well, then you won’t get much out of your prayer. Maybe for a rule of thumb, you could ask if you could do your calculus homework in there. No, praying isn’t like pulling teeth or rocket science. It just needs good concentration and as little distraction as possible. After all, isn’t that what prayer is—leaving behind the distractions of the world to find God?

Consumation? (that's my big word for the day...)

“When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. Fear not, for I am with you…” (Isaiah 43: 2, 5a)

What have we to fear if God is with us at all times? If God is on our side, who can be against us? It is so easy to become preoccupied with so many different things that “endanger” us. And it is so easy to forget that in reality, nothing can ever fully separate us from God, our Creator. God created the fire and the rivers. Why would he ever allow them to consume us? It may seem as if we are consumed by them, but in reality our soul is completely free from their strength. Our soul is forever linked to God. It exists and we exist inasmuch as God allows. What can ever harm us completely? If we die in God’s name, we go to heaven. Would you be leaving family and friends behind? Pray them to heaven to come to be with you when their time comes.
Why the preoccupation with death? Why not instead be preoccupied with life? And why not eternal life?