Last night I asked my Confirmation group how much time they spend each day in silence. My motive was to challenge them to spend a portion of that time listening for God's voice in their lives. The most silent time, that any of them admitted to, was 30 minutes. I asked them to look for 5 minutes this week to be quiet and listen to what God has to say to them.
How would you answer this question? How much time do you spend each day in silence? One of the ways that we connect to God in prayer is to listen. Do you ever make the time to stop to listen for the voice of God?
This week you are encouraged to take some time, individually or as a family, and simply be quiet. Take a walk and silently appreciate God's creation. Set a timer for 3 or 5 minutes and repeat in your mind, "speak Lord, I'm listening". Perhaps you can refrain from listening to your ipod or car radio for 5 minutes and offer those minutes to God. Another idea might be to set a timer and focus on your breathing for 2-3 minutes. Challenge yourself this week to spend some time in the quiet and see if you can hear the "still small voice of God" (1Kings 19:12).
1 comment:
This is such an important skill. I personally didn't learn how to do this until I was an adult and had no idea how to listen to God. I think the most important skill that we can give to our little ones is to teach them to listen to the silence. Which to me means to shut out my thoughts and honestly listen to God. This for me is the easiest form of meditation.
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