Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Curing the Spiritual Fidgits



I have been told by people that I have what my mom used to call “a case of the fidgets.” It’s hard for me to sit and do nothing.  My body constantly want to move—fingers drumming on tables, feet thumping on the floors, eyes running around the room looking at anything and everything. 
I’m not ashamed of it. I have never seen anything wrong with it, except when I am praying.  The tendency of my thoughts to run in six directions at once makes it difficult to keep them focused on God.  When I am with God I do not want to be distracted. 
 “Be still, and know that I am God,” says the Psalmist.  Would that I could be still!  How quickly I can be distracted by a sound, sight, or a passing thought in my mind!  These “spiritual fidgets” lead to worry, anxiety, and needless temptation. 
 That’s why meditation is so important.  To really meditate, I must focus my mind, body, and emotions as well my thoughts.  Psalm 1 says
    
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but in God’s law he meditates day and night.”  

 To meditate on a passage of Scripture is to study it so intently that we are filled with it—it is our only thought. 
There are many ways of doing this.  We can say it aloud or write it over and over until it becomes part of us.  When we fill our hearts and minds with a single thought from the Word, then it becomes greater than our distractions. 
Don’t take a large passage of Scripture at first. Take a small one—a verse or two.  Read it in many translations until you have almost memorized it.  God’s Word will drive out your daily distractions. 

Today, get in your quiet place and meditate on one, two or all of these verses.  Say them aloud to yourself, at least ten times.  Read them over and over and meditate upon them.  Let God show you what these verses can mean to your heart.

God our souls are restless.  How hard it is to rest in You.  Let us find rest in You, and stillness in our souls.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen

Today, get in your quiet place and meditate on one, two or all of these verses.  Say them aloud to yourself, at least ten times.  Read them over and over and meditate upon them.  Let God show you what these verses can mean to your hear   


Psalm 46:10  




Exodus 14:14  



Zechariah 2: 13





As a child upon its mother,
As a leaf upon the tree
As a turtle in the ocean
My soul finds a place in thee.
Home is more than where the heart is
Home is where you feel at ease
And you can be who you can be
Grace is the entire home I need.

In the peace of God I rest now
In His love, I've found my place
In the world's uncertain turnings
I hold fast onto His grace.

BF

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