Meditation and
prayer - Starting the day
At the beginning of the day,
the mind is most open to receive new impressions. One of the
most important things we can do is to take full responsibility
for the power of the morning.
If you want to have a nonmiraculous
day, I suggest that newspaper and caffeine form the crux of
your morning regimen. Listen to the morning news while you’re
in the shower, read the headlines as you are walking out the
door, make sure you’re keeping tabs on everything: the
wars, the economy, the gossip, the natural disasters…But
if you want the day ahead to be full of miracles, then spend
some time each morning with God.
Most of us wouldn’t
think of beginning our day without washing the accumulated
dirt from the day before off our bodies. Yet far too often
we go out into the day without similarly cleansing our minds.
And our minds carry more pollution than our bodies, for they
carry not only our own toxicity but that of the entire world.
We carry the fear, anxiety, stress, and pain not just of our
own lives, but of our families, our nation, and millions all
over the planet.
Our greatest weakness is the
weakness of an undisciplined mind. We need not let fear steal
the morning; we can consciously choose not to allow our minds
to be programmed by the worldly viewpoint that dominates the
earth. We can set our day upon another course. Each of us
has an inner room where we can visit to be cleansed of fear-based
thoughts and feelings. This room, the holy of holies, is a
sanctuary of spiritual light. The light is not a metaphor,
but rather an actual energy of mystical vibration. When we
begin our morning within it, the mind receives a radiance
that illumines our thinking as we go through our day.
Imagine yourself sitting in
a perfect, comfortable spot for meditation and prayer. It
might be a chair in your bedroom or living room. It is a place
of relative quiet and calm, where you go on a regular basis
to find the peace that only God can give. You have come to
realize that this time of rest, in its stillness and peace,
is beneficent to both your mind and body. Here you come to
surrender to God, using a prayer or mantra to move beyond
the frantic and overwhelming thoughts that stalk us night
and day. You are making your daily pilgrimage home, where
your life will be renewed.
While the power of such quiet
time can be profoundly healing, we often resist it fiercely.
We have scores of reasons why we don’t have time to
meditate: "The kids have to get off to school…I
have to go to work…My partner wants to be with me…I
have early appointments…," and the list goes on.
Yet none of those excuses would be used to avoid taking a
shower or getting dressed. It would be ludicrous to say, "I’m
just too busy. I had to give up showers." And yet "busy-ness"
is a common excuse for why we do not take the time, or give
the time, to meet regularly with God.
Just think about it: We turn
down the chance for a meeting with God. It’s a meeting
He is always available for, and perhaps that is why we fail
to take full advantage of the opportunity. Perhaps it’s
hard for us to embrace what an astonishing gift is being offered.
We figure if it’s really that easy to do, then how could
it be that powerful? That’s how much we underestimate
how important we are to God.
In choosing not to listen
for Him, we are choosing not to hear Him. For God’s
voice is a whisper, not a shout. Legend has it that when the
angels came to the Virgin Mary in the middle of the night,
they told her to get out of bed and go up to the roof. There
they would reveal the extraordinary destiny that was to be
hers. She had to go on to the roof in order to receive their
message, the roof symbolizing her higher mind. If they had
merely told her to sit up in bed, her mind and body still
close to sleep, then she would not have been able to hear
them. We too must be in a heightened, awakened state if we
wish to hear the voice of God. Certain insights come to us
after five or ten or twenty minutes of meditation, which simply
do not emerge from the shallow waters of normal waking consciousness.
Setting our mental focus within deeper waters in the morning
helps ensure that our mind will remain there throughout the
day.
The story of Mary’s
annunciation is the beginning of the Christ story and, like
all beginnings, sets the energy for what will come. Her deep
surrender to the will of God was the original opening through
which God revealed Himself. Whether it’s the beginning
of a life or the beginning of a day, energies become set and
hardened then; once a pattern is off and running, it’s
more difficult to change.
Time spent in morning meditation
and prayer can save hours of tears shed later over something
we have said or done. How many times have we said to ourselves,
"How could I have been so dumb?" The answer is that
we are not dumb; we were simply at the mercy of a frantic
mind, not centered on its own sublime power. We were focused
on things that were ultimately unimportant, while the deeper
issues of life were left mainly ignored. These are the things
that are bound to happen when we do not take the time each
day to purify our thoughts.
According to A Course in Miracles,
five minutes spent with God’s Spirit in the morning
guarantees He will be in charge of our thought forms throughout
the day. Each morning we can begin with spiritual confidence,
surrendering to God’s will and praying that our eyes
be opened to the miracles He has planned for us. Each day
can be a glorious canvas painted by the hand of God, and we
pray for eyes with which to see it.
Every morning, visualize and
pray for divine right order: If you are a teacher, for instance,
bear witness with your inner eye to an angel, or Jesus, or
Buddha, wrapping his arms around every child in your class,
then allow your mind to hold that image for five minutes or
more. See God’s Light around your coworkers, your neighbors,
your children, your spouse. Whatever it is you will be doing
with your day – whatever your workplace or activity
– consciously bless the people you’ll meet, as
well as those you don’t even know. Remember to include
those you don’t like as well as those you do. Allow
yourself to imagine, while in a prayerful, meditative state,
the life you most long to experience. Then bless that image,
and surround it with light.
Now you can leave the house
smiling, because you’ve placed your future in the hands
of God. You’ve helped set the universe on a harmonious
trajectory. Every day we have a chance to re-create life,
for ourselves and others, reshaping our energies with the
thoughts we think, just as we reshape our bodies with physical
exercise. Bless the house in which you wake, and the people
who also sleep there. Bless your city and your country and
your world. Bless everyone you will meet today. Bless everyone
else who is driving along the freeway with you. Ask that your
mind be filled with light, that you might be a channel for
God’s love. You cannot do this regularly in a committed
way and feel like your life has no purpose. When you give
love you will feel love. That is Law.
Some days are harder than
others, to be sure. Perhaps some of your mornings have gone
like this: "There is no way I can do this. I’m
supposed to go to Chicago, and my daughter is having her dance
recital tonight. If I can’t get home on the three o’clock
flight, which I probably won’t because my meeting isn’t
until one, then I will miss her recital and be a terrible
parent."
Now commit this truth to memory:
There is no problem that holiness will not solve. No matter
what the problem is no matter how big or small, important
or unimportant, you are entitled to a miracle because you
are a child of God.
Using only our mortal minds,
we have very little power to fix anything. The world is full
of confusion, it is moving too fast, and the demands of parenthood,
career, economics, and health are proving too stressful for
almost everyone. But you’re equipped with more than
just your mortal mind. Within each of us there is a divine
mind, the Mind of God. It is always there, with no exception,
to work whatever miracle is necessary to lift us above the
limitations of the world.
In A Course in Miracles, it
is written, "Prayer is the conduit of miracles."
There is no prayer too big or too small that we should withhold
it from God.
So try this instead, on such
a morning: "Dear God, please give me a miracle. I don’t
know how I’m going to go to Chicago and still get back
to my daughter’s recital. This life is so full of stress,
dear God. Please take my day and plan it for me. Thank you,
God. Amen."
Everything in the universe
is of concern to God, since He loves everything as one. If
you’re too stressed, then you’re not fully alive,
and your problem is therefore very much God’s business.
If you’re not fully alive, then you’re not being
who you were born to be or living the life you are meant to
live. If you’re not living the life you are meant to
live, then you’re not doing on this earth what you’re
intended to do – you’re failing to take part in
the unfolding drama of infinite good, which is the spirit
of God. If you’re not being the parent you are capable
of being, then another child is set up to fail. Why wouldn’t
a loving God wish to correct that situation? We are told in
A Course in Miracles that we do not ask God for too much,
but for too little. Every need we have should be placed in
His hands.
The moment a mistake –
any deviation from love – occurs, a perfect, all-knowing
God has already planned a correction. All we have to do is
ask that it be revealed to us. "Dear God, please show
me a miracle."
We take spiritual responsibility
for our day when we pray that it be blessed. More than the
way we look, more than the clothes in our closet, more than
whether or not our papers are organized, this simple request
– that our lives be reflections of an eternal love –
releases us from the confines of yesterday and frees us to
unlimited possibilities today. Every single morning we can
receive from the universe an entirely new day, in every sense
of the word. Our ego will screech, "Denial!" should
we have the audacity to consider the possibility of a radically
new life today. Yet that’s exactly what is available
to us, and courage lies in claming it.
Every morning, consider doing
this: Light a candle. Sit down. Close your eyes. Be with God.
There are many different prayer
and meditation techniques, and they are all paths to God.
It matters not which path we walk to Him, but only that we
walk it. In whatever way suits you, talk to God.
Dear God,
I give you this morning.
Please take away
My despair of yesterday.
Help me to forgive the things
That caused me pain
And would keep me bound.
Help me to begin again.
Please bless my path
And illumine my mind.
I surrender to You
The day ahead.
Please bless every person
And situation
I will encounter.
Make me who You would have me be,
That I might do as You would have me do.
Please enter my heart
And remove all anger,
Fear and pain.
Renew my soul
And free my spirit.
Thank you, God,
For this day.
Amen.
| Authors Details: Meditation and Prayer
- Excerpted from Everyday Grace by Marianne
Williamson. www.marianne.com |
|
