By Rev. Jennifer Goddard-Sheppard, WICC Board member
November 2021
Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
In this world of constant movement and change, being still is a challenge.
From the moment I rise, I am “doing” something! I get up, make the coffee, write the morning pages, read the Bible, and do “morning routine”.
After reading and writing, I sit and meditate/pray. For 20 minutes, I close my eyes and enter the bliss consciousness of stillness and the silence. I enter the great beyond and rest in the holy presence. Thoughts and feelings abound. Memories. Images. Lists. They flash before my eyes. I do not follow them. I notice, observe, and accept them and let them go. I release into deep relaxation and heightened awareness. I rest here as I remain in this place of deep peace and oneness. The sound of the harp of my alarm brings me back to my body and the present time/space.
For 20 minutes twice a day, I meditate/pray like this. Every day, give or take a few, for the past 30 years.
This is one of the ways I pray. And it is very good.
Why I pray?
I pray to listen and speak to the Creator. To rest in the presence and be restored, renewed, and refreshed.
I pray to “take it to the Lord” all those things in life that are beyond me, beyond my control, beyond my capacity etc.
In prayer I surrender to God and ask/seek the holy will and guidance for my life. Oh Lord, show me the way…
I pray that “Thy will be done” in my life and that I willingly follow the will and the way.
These are some of the reasons why I pray.
How do you pray? Why do you pray?