Day 305
Sunday, July 2, 2023
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Scripture
Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature. —Romans 12:2
Wisdom
I AM PROUD of my consistent meditation practice, but you need not be so obsessive. You may meditate for three minutes, skip a week, then meditate on a Thursday for five minutes. Be a rebel! Consistency is a virtue of bureaucrats, not mystics….IN THE EARLY 1990s I met the poet Thaddeus Rutkowski in the East Village of Manhattan. We discovered that we had both attended Cornell University at the same time. In fact, we’d lived in the same dorm, Sperry Hall. Thaddeus, who has a remarkable memory, began naming residents of the hall, most of whom I’d forgotten.
“Did you know Mike Motel?” he inquired.
“I was Mike Motel,” I replied. That was the name I went by in college.
“But you’re nothing like him!” Thaddeus remarked. “He was a nervous, hyper guy, and you’re very calm and relaxed.”
This is the one piece of evidence I have that meditation works….IN MEDITATION YOU become vividly aware of breathing. The rest of the time we don’t notice our inhalations and exhalations, but closing the eyes brings this mostly involuntary action to the forefront of awareness. Breathing is a quiet internal labor that never ceases. We are completely dependent on an invisible ocean of air to sustain us. Air is much like God: an unseeable, omnipresent entity that gives us life….I DON’T MEDITATE to achieve mystical heights, but rather to appreciate the rest of my life. I want to wash the dishes with gratitude, like a slow-motion dance. —Sparrow’s Guide to Meditation, “Sun Magazine,” December 2020
Prayer
Let me be transformed, changed, calmed, and aware as I enter, daily, step by step int your presence. Let me close my eyes and rest. Let me breathe and in trust find you. Let me meditate and be lifted into freedom. Amen. —The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster