More on contemplation

I have been a Christian all of my life. I accepted the Lord as my Savior at camp when I was seven and have gone up and down many mountains, regarding my faith, since then. Through all those stages of development there has been a cry or longing in my heart for more. I can remember a number of times in my life when I have cried out to the Lord that there had to be more. What I was experiencing in my Christian life and in my church was not enough. I read His word and did not see the power of what He taught and demonstrated evident in my life. So I tried to do more and more. I started small groups, was involved in deep bible studies, prayer meetings and chruch planting situations. At each step there was still this longing in my heart for more.

This leads me to the subject of this entry. This search for more of Jesus has led me to pursuit of a lifestyle of prayer and intimacy with Him. When I take time to stop, quiet my mind and listen to what Jesus is saying to me I find that I am at peace. I feel His love for me and sense the joy that He has in being with me and the cares of this world washes off me like the spring rains wash the winters dirt off the lawn. It is so refreshing! What I have come to realize that the more of Him can only come to us when we take the time out of our busy schedules to be with Him.

There is more but the more does not come from our doing but from our being. Learn to live life resting in the love Jesus has for you. His love is really never ending and He is waiting to show you. Spend some time with Him and let Him show you. This will give the strength you need to meet the pressures of your day.

Blessings,
Glenn

On contemplation

Here I sit in my prayer room adding a post to my blog. Your prayer room you say. Yes, since our kids have moved out, we decided to dedicate some space in the house where we can go to contemplate, meditate and pray. It may sound weird but it has proved to be very beneficial

Listening to Jesus has been central to the prayer ministry that my wife and I have been engaged in for quite a few years now. Engaging in this ministry has led us deepen our personal relationship with Jesus. We discovered that this required setting aside time to be quiet and contemplate on Father, Son and Spirit and connect with Him in a deep personal place. This, in turn, has led us into integrating contemplation into our daily lives. We found that, for us, the best way to discover this was to begin seeing a spiritual director. This has been most beneficial. I guess I said all that to say that it was on the encouragement of my spiritual director that we made this space in our house dedicated to prayer. It was that and the fact that we had the room because our kids have all flown the coop. But that's another story for another time.

This room has been very helpful to helping me create a space where I can focus on the Lord and what He is saying to me, what He wants to do in me, and what He wants to do through me. I have carved the space and now I am learning to discipline myself to carve out the time. That, at least for me, is the hardest struggle, to set aside my busyness and take some time every day to stop and re-center myself on Jesus and His priorities. For me this has been the hardest and probably most rewarding journey in my life.

I feel that our lives would be more fulfilled and our relationships richer if we would just learn to stop for a time each day and focus on Jesus and the words He has for us. He wants to speak to us, our job is to look to Him and ask Him to open our ears to hear what He is saying. I don't believe that contemplation is for some who are specifically called to a deeper religious life. I really believe that this is something that is attainable for each person and that as we individually pursue a greater depth of relationship the impact on our world would be profound. I encourage you to talk to the Lord about this. You don't have to have a prayer room to do it just a desire to love the Lord and know the incredible love He has for you.

Blessings,

Glenn

Hi all I'm back. I must tell you that I have been inspired by my son-in-law who has been blogging about his journey in quitting smoking, life in general and his observations at the gym. I have found them to be insightful and hilarious. Reading his entries has stimulated me to resume my "thoughts on the road."

I do understand that this is more cathartic for me than for anyone out there who might read it. In my reading, meditation, and daily ministry there are topics that run through my mind that I would like to write about. This is a venue where I can scratch that itch. Therefore I see today as a new beginning for me to share thoughts I have on various subjects. In doing so I encourage anyone who might read these entries to write a comment or contact me if they have anything to share on the subjects I might address. Or not that's up to you.

As I said there are a number of topics that I would like to write about. They include marriage, relationships, the church, contemplation and others. What I have to offer are my ruminations and are not to be construed as the last word on any subject. Some of the topics are controversial and some are areas of concern that keep cropping up in my daily activities. My desire is to create a dialog. I realize that this may not be the best venue for that but that's OK. Entering into this endeavor makes me think about what I really believe; which is something I think is important for all of us. In this pressure cooker we call life there is often not enough time given to really meditate on what we believe let alone actively put it into practice. Hopefully this little effort will help someone to stop and think a bit, and that will make it all worth while.

I look forward to hearing from anyone but most of all I look forward probing the depths of my relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit as we wrestle with some of these issues.

Blessings,

Glenn