Hum... Hum.... Hum: The discipline of Mediation

Blessed is the one

    who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

    or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

    which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

    whatever they do prospers. ~ Psalms 1: 1-3

     When you hear the word meditation what is the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe it a man cross legged, eyes close, and arms lifted up. So often when I think of meditation I think of eastern religion practices which relate meditation to emptying the mind. However, for the Christian this is not what mediation is.

     Richard Foster writes in Celebration of Discipline, “Christian meditation, very simply, is the ability to hear God’s voice and obey his word” (17). Simply put, the Christian idea of mediation is not emptying one’s mind but rather it is an attempt to fill the mind by focusing on God. 

     So this week my plan to practice the discipline of meditation was to set aside three different blocks of time to be still and listen. I began by spending time in prayer asking God to speak and then I listened. 

     This week I only set aside two blocks of time instead of three. While I was mediating, I found it very difficult to keep focused on God and him alone. My mind would drift to the next thing I had to do or what had I plan for tomorrow or even how was I going to get everything done that need to get done. Why is it so easy to drift away from God? I think it is easy because so often I am too busy to be still and know. I do know that God is always with me but I allow myself to become too busy to stop and listen. 

     But even though my mind did drift numerous times, I still found the practice of mediation to beneficial. I did not hear the audible voice of God but I did experience being in the presence of the Holy God. I felt like the Psalmist feels in Psalms 1. I am that tree that is planted by steams of water, who bears fruit because I am abiding in the stream of living water. 

     As Jesus says in John 15: 5,“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” The spiritual discipline of  mediation is exactly that, remaining in the true vine in order to bear fruit.