Somewhere in my early years of faith, I read a little book entitled, The Practice of The Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. It's about being mindful of God every waking moment of your day. Many years later, I discovered Practicing His Presence by Frank Laubach and Brother Lawrence, which is the original work plus Frank Laubach's diary of his experience of following The Practice of the Presence of God. I'm now on my fourth reading, and it's getting a bit dog-eared, and the highlighting makes the pages quite colorful.
Unfortunately, I've found that life continues to get in the way of being mindful of God with me, and I end up relegated Him to a corner of my life set aside just for Him.Then life goes from being in-the-way to overwhelming, and I remember that God isn't a part of my life, He IS my life. Out comes Practicing His Presence. Perhaps if I read it one more time, I'll get it. That's what I hope anyway. It's not easy to keep God in the forefront of your thoughts all day long especially when your day is filled with the practical, when within your mind, those things on your to-do lists push and shove their way into your thoughts, so as not to be forgotten.
Yet still I'm motivated to try because I think I'm finally getting a clue that I can't (nor do I want to) do life without a constant awareness of Him. I have a hope that this "practicing His presence" will be more than just one more thought that crowds in to the horde of thoughts already vying for position inside my little cranium. I have hope that it will actually change me, change my life. Although I've read this book so many times, and I even have this underlined, I never let it sink in before now:
"This concentration upon God is strenuous, but everything else has ceased to be so."
Frank Laubach goes on to explain:
" I think more clearly, I forget less frequently. Things which I did with a strain before, I now do easily and with no effort whatever. I worry about nothing, and lose no sleep . . . I no longer feel in a hurry about anything."
So, I'm thinking that if I have a choice between all of life being strenuous or concentration upon God being strenuous, well, I don't know about you, but I'd say that's pretty much a no-brainer.
Unfortunately, I've found that life continues to get in the way of being mindful of God with me, and I end up relegated Him to a corner of my life set aside just for Him.Then life goes from being in-the-way to overwhelming, and I remember that God isn't a part of my life, He IS my life. Out comes Practicing His Presence. Perhaps if I read it one more time, I'll get it. That's what I hope anyway. It's not easy to keep God in the forefront of your thoughts all day long especially when your day is filled with the practical, when within your mind, those things on your to-do lists push and shove their way into your thoughts, so as not to be forgotten.
Yet still I'm motivated to try because I think I'm finally getting a clue that I can't (nor do I want to) do life without a constant awareness of Him. I have a hope that this "practicing His presence" will be more than just one more thought that crowds in to the horde of thoughts already vying for position inside my little cranium. I have hope that it will actually change me, change my life. Although I've read this book so many times, and I even have this underlined, I never let it sink in before now:
"This concentration upon God is strenuous, but everything else has ceased to be so."
Frank Laubach goes on to explain:
" I think more clearly, I forget less frequently. Things which I did with a strain before, I now do easily and with no effort whatever. I worry about nothing, and lose no sleep . . . I no longer feel in a hurry about anything."
So, I'm thinking that if I have a choice between all of life being strenuous or concentration upon God being strenuous, well, I don't know about you, but I'd say that's pretty much a no-brainer.
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