True

"I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself, my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God..."

Last night at True Brother Thierry from the Monastery in Rostrevor came to speak to us about practicing the Presence of God...what a guy! I could actually have sat and listened to him all night!

I was really challenged by him in quite a few ways actually, but one aspect in particular was about prayer. He said that as a monk, every day has 6 seperate times of prayer. Oh to have that discipline! I struggle so much with this sometimes. I would love to be disciplined enough to set aside a certain time in the day to pray. I'm not saying that i don't pray...it's just that with me, it tends to be little and often, and at no particular time. In Mark 1:35 it tells us that "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." As Christians it is our desire to follow this example...so why do I and many others find it so hard? Busy schedules? Love of sleep? Laziness? I think if I am honest I am guilty of all 3 of these things. But I have been so challenged to set aside some time of my own to pray. I am going to try this for a week to see how I get on, I am going to set aside other things which I may think are more important and spend my time with God, talking to Him and praying to Him, and really try to practice God's presence. I shall let you know how I get on...feel free to join with me!

"What if we realised that all God desires is our faithful attention so He can share Himself with us? What if we discovered that we love because God first loved us? This and more comes from practicing God's presence.
These are the essentials of the practice of God's presence, what Brother Lawrence called the holy habit: We engage in a continual, silent, and affectionate conversation with our Father. We walk with God in faith, love, humility, and simplicity. Out of love, we strive to do nothingand think nothing which may displease Him. Calling God to mind at every possible moment, every opportunity, we focus our attention on Him and silently say, "Thank you Father" throughout each Day."