Sometimes doing nothing is actually doing something.

Last week I wrote about 2014 being a year of taking action. As I thought about it, I realized that the first step in taking action is to “find our bearings.” We have to know where we are in order to know where we are going. We find our bearings by referring to our relationship with other things. In a spiritual sense, we find our bearings when we make ourselves present to God.

God made the nations so they would seek him, perhaps even reach out to him and find him. In fact, God isn’t far away from any of us. In God we live, move, and exist. (Acts 17:27-28)

The forms in which we make ourselves present to God are as unique as each individual. The important thing is that we experiment until we find a practice that helps us to connect to God and do it. We must also remember that God is always present whether we perceive it or not. Regardless of the form, we must at some point turn our focus toward God.

To be honest, this is difficult for me to do. I have a hard time being present, because I usually have a million things going through my head and countless other things going on around to distract me. It takes me a long time to get quiet. But, in conversation with friends, I know that it just takes practice. Our dear friend, Josh Pinkston, wrote about silent prayer and its challenges this week. Here is an excerpt from his article.

I practice Silent Prayer and encourage others to, not so that we can become proficient at making ourselves silent, but so that we can become greater hearers and experiencers of Christ, who is all and in all and through all. It is to unclog our external and internal ears that are filled with opinions, hurts, self-centeredness, and expectations.

Being present to God may feel like doing nothing, but it is in being still that we can know God. (Psalm 46:10)

Grace and peace,
Brook

Also published on Medium.