Aug 17th, 2021: Meditation
Meditation has become more and more mainstream these days. It is no longer just a religious or spiritual concept. We hear about that in education, business, and sometimes politics. There are some different connotations when people refer to Mediation. Some use it as a form of stress management. Others might use language such as "being in touch with oneself" to describe the exercise. Some might stress the point of being able to let go of life's painful experiences.
This cartoon is funny, but it also tells something about the human condition in the digital age. Our electronic devices have become so much a part of our daily life. Some of us find it impossible to separate ourselves from them. We have access to a tremendous amount of info, and much of it is not that useful. We want to delete our history and clear our cache so we can protect ourselves from unwanted viruses. Well, we are already contaminated, and they attack our soul, our emotion, and our physical well-being.
J.I. Packer describes it this way:
"Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God… It is an activity of Holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God." - (Knowing God).
It is about being drawn to God with our hearts, minds, and spirit so we can live our lives according to our meditation over His word. It is about affirming our relationship with the Living God. Jesus' time with God in the garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion was the ultimate example of prayerful meditation. He experienced the full range of human emotions before saying to God: "Yet your will, not mine." (Matthew 26: 36-46)
