Centering Prayer
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
-Ephesians 2:22
I've been considering how to live more according to how God calls us to live, and in the process discovered something called "Centering Prayer" (there are other names, but for this blog post, I'll call it "Centering Prayer"). So I've begun implementing it into my daily (work) schedule. Here's a short summary of what it is and the idea behind it:
Centering prayer is a form of prayer that utters no words and focuses on attentiveness to the presence of God within. It allows for intimacy that is deeper than words can express. As we experience God's loving presence, our walk with Him becomes less and less dependent upon what we intellectually believe, and more dependent on what we tase, see, and hear. Pragmatically, reports say that people experience an increase in concentration, mood, and self-control. They feel more connected to their hearts and live more according to the center of their beings, where Jesus dwells.
Instructionally, centering prayer is done as follows:
1. Choose a sacred word as a symbol of your desire to be present to God.
2. Sit comfortably in a quiet place
3. When interrupted by thoughts, sounds, or other distractions, acknowledge them and gently return your attention to God via the sacred word.
4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with your eyes closed for several minutes.
So that's what I've been trying recently. God works through our prayers, so I'm seeing how God will work through mine in this form. Let me know if you do anything similar!
I don't think I've ever heard of this prayer style! What word(s) did you choose? I feel like I would easily get distracted if I'm just focusing on a word. Overall, it sounds like a form of meditation and "mindfulness" as worldly sources would call it. If I were to meditate while taking a walk in nature or something like that, I think I would do something similar by drawing my attention and focus to the nature around me and to God who made it all.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I've been using the word "father". But pretty much will be whatever word I think of when I think about God.
DeleteAnd yes, very similar to meditation, I think. I found a video where a pastor was relating it to sitting on a beach with a friend where talking might take away from the bonding or ruin the moment, so doing a nature walk sounds like a similar idea still to me.