The Miracle of the Morning

When I remember You on my bed,
         I meditate on You in the night watches.
Because You have been my help,
         Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
My soul follows close behind You;
         Your right hand upholds me. 

Today’s Reading: Psalms 63-65; Romans 6

Recently I changed my sleep schedule so that I went to sleep earlier and wake up earlier. It was a challenge because historically I have always been a night owl. Even when I was a young child I would stay up entirely too late watching TV or just sitting in bed with my thoughts.

Looking back on those times and thinking about myself now, I realize that much of that time was spent meditating and I didn’t even know it. The solitude of the night allows for a certain level of intimate privacy that just cannot be found in the day. The day is filled with noise of chores and errands and the stresses of what needs to be done. Days are filled with work and time spent with loved ones. I’ve always relished the privacy of the night. I was free to spend uninterrupted hours letting my mind wander wherever it wanted to go. My soul was free to grow.

I don’t much like the idea of giving that up.

But I decided to change my schedule because it will help me be more effective with my time. You know how the old saying goes: “the early bird gets the worm”. Many of the most successful people are successful because they start their day before everyone else. I thought I’d give it a try.

So this week I have done just that. I’ve woken up before the sun for the past five days and something amazing happened. I found it even easier to meditate in the morning than I did at night. I still found myself in the still of darkness, but there was a key difference. Instead of my mind running a mile a minute with all of the stresses and worries of the day, it was refreshed and renewed from plenty of hours of sleep. Whatever running it needed to do was completed during the night. It was a new day with a cleaner slate.

I woke up already feeling connected to God.

If that wasn’t enough, I was able to witness a miracle every morning. I watched the sun rise. There is something very therapeutic about watching the sun rise. It is like watching God gently wake up the rest of the world. The sounds of crickets gradually change into the sounds of birds chirping. Soon afterwards the city rises. People begin their morning jogs, a few dogs bark their good mornings to their neighbors, and the rituals of the day start to stretch for their marathon runs throughout the day.

But before this begins, before the normal sets in with its dull drowning sound, I was able to see the miraculous hidden underneath it; and remember throughout the day that no matter what anyone says, miracles do happen every single day.

The Power of Meditation

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10

Today’s Reading: Psalms 46-48; Acts 28

I had a conversation recently with a friend about meditation. We were talking about how powerful it is, how when we are able to reach that place where we can let go, we are connected to something that is wonderfully powerful, beyond measure.

This brought me back to the time where this blog was born; the ten day fast that I did in September of 2007.

Many years had passed since I had really spoken to God. Sure God was around and maybe I hollered at him every now and then when I thought I needed him, but I was in an utter state of confusion. I couldn’t see anything clearly.

Then I decided to do the master cleanse and unplug from the TV and Internet for 10 days.

The experienced changed my life.

When I look back on it I see that the power of that experience wasn’t in the lemon drink or the salt water flushes. The power was in the silence. When everything was shut off my spirit was able to shake off the burden of the noise in my mind and finally exercise its wings again. In the silence I was able to hear what God wanted me to hear. I was able to listen.

The times that I spent meditating and reconnecting with God were so powerful and so comforting. It was like going back home and realizing that I never left.

For several years prior to this I spent so much time trying to solve all of the spiritual problems of the universe that I had forgotten what my position was. In the attempt to understand God, I gradually started trying to do his work. I tried to answer the questions that only He can answer. I tried to solve the puzzles that only he can solve.

But when I became quiet I was able to see clearly and know without a doubt that He is God. Not me.

Often times we don’t know the next step we are supposed to take in life because we spend too much time talking and not enough time listening. Give listening a chance sometime. Find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted and just close your eyes and sit there. No music. No soothing meditation sounds. Just silence.  If your mind starts racing about random topics, let it race. Listen to what it is saying without trying to control or judge it. Let it talk freely and observe what it has to say. Eventually it will tire itself out and go silent.

This is when the miracle begins.

From this silence the spirit will burst forth. It will sing the songs that God wants to speak into your life. This is what inspiration is for me. It is when we are blessed with ideas and visions and dreams that are bigger than our small minds. They are so big and beautiful for our lives that it is clear that they are not ours.

Then when you open your eyes you will see what I saw and continue to see. What once was foggy is now clear. And in that clarity you will know the next steps to take to make your dreams come true.

The only question is… do you have the courage to take the first step?

If you don’t have some crazy, miraculous epiphany the first time, that’s cool. Keep trying. Having the patience to reach a state of quiet is very difficult. It takes work and patience.

But I promise that if you put in the work, you will reap the fruit one hundred fold.