Open Myself to God - Contemplation

     I know that I'm very guilty of cramming my schedule with everything possible.  I just love being busy;  I hate sitting around.   Normally this isn't a bad thing necessarily, I feel like I accomplish more.  But the problem comes when I become so experientially oriented that I fail to take time and slow down.  I get so focused on feeling accomplished, that I never stop just doing stuff.  I never take the time to think deeply.  I mean thinking about something below the surface; thinking at so deep a level (especially about my faith) that I begin to see Christ in new ways.

     "Contemplation invites us to enter in to the moment with a heart alive to whatever might happen.  It is not just thinking about or analyzing an even or person.  Contemplation asks us to see with faith, hope and love." - Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

    
     When I begin to be a contemplative person, I begin to see the world through God's eyes.  I can see the injustice in the world that I may have not previously perceived, and I know I have to do something about it.  Take time to contemplate everything we have been taught about God and everything we believe is essential for us forming OUR faith, and not just the faith of our pastors, leaders, and parents.  Contemplation creates intimacy with Christ, and that's something that I should be striving for; not only for my future ministry, but for my own life.

     The book that I'm reading suggest a "walk with Jesus."  It's just one way that you can enter into a serious time of contemplation.  Take a walk outside, alone, and find a place where you can walk that isn't completely taken over by cars and noise.  Just take the time to see the beauty in God's creation, and emerge yourself into the presence of God.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)