When you saw the subject matter of this email, did you think it might be about some kind of yoga, zen type thing that was not going to be relevant to you? In the context of today’s culture, I can understand why. Part of the enemies’ strategy is to take any and every thing and turn it upside down and use it against us – even language.
In reality, mindfulness is simply the opposite of “mindlessness” – something we’ve all probably encountered when we are eating too much of our favorite snack while watching t.v. Our culture is gravitating more and more toward mindlessness – everything from 30 second sound bites to 24-hour news cycles that do nothing more than kill time. The enemy is slowly, incrementally training us away from intentionality, mindfulness, deliberate actions taken with deliberate choices behind them.
Mindfulness is actually very biblical with God teaching us about different aspects of mindfulness such as:
- Practicing worshipful meditation (that’s the purpose of rituals by the way – they are supposed to be a tool to assist with connection and focus, not a law).
- Stillness – “Be Still and KNOW that I am God.” (This is one of my personal favorites – I want to take the time to stop what I’m doing and just KNOW. Very comforting.)
- Being Present – remembering that God is with us always. A foundational truth to stand on.
- Letting Go – how many of you have heard of “Let Go and Let God”? How many of us are good at it? It actually takes a lot of mindfulness to have the self-control necessary to let go of external control and anxiety over things that we never had control of anyway. This is a real faith exercise.
- Attention – God deserves our attention. The first commandment really sets the prioritization. Read more…