Living With The Presence of God

One blog and podcast I recently have been listening to had one posting about Spirituality where reading the spiritual classics from the past was emphasized. A re-reading of the Brother Lawrence classic, The Practice of the Presence of God came to my mind. So I found my copy of it and read it in an afternoon. Reading it made me think of the importance of living with the presence of God in my life each day. In the spiritual journey in this life, being in an awareness of God’s presence is an important part of our spiritual growth. Brother Lawrence was a lay member of a monastery of the Carmelites in Paris in the 1660’s. He lived a simple life doing work in the kitchen and running errands. In reading the conversations in the book and his letters even in the mundane of life he lived with an attitude of worship and wonder of God in all he did. One initial quote that stood out to me was, “Brother Lawrence told me we should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence by continually conversing with him. It was a shameful thing to quit conversation with God to think of trifles and fooleries…. We ought to give ourselves up entirely to pure surrender to God with regard to matters both temporal and spiritual and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will, whether he leads us through sufferings or consolations.” Pgs 4-5. He took seriously the Apostle Paul’s admonition to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:16. It is a heart attitude to breath up communication with God throughout the day. He speaks elsewhere of throughout the day having a sense of reverential awe about God. One way to keep our mind mindfully aware of God is presented in one of his letters. “One way to recollect the mind easily in the time of prayer and preserve it more in tranquility is not to let it wander too far at other times. You should keep it strictly in the presence of God. And being accustomed to think of him often you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings.” Page 55. From this quote and the overall text Brother Lawrence was a simple man who enjoyed the presence of God through out his life. One of his last writings a week before he died in a final letter he wrote this, “ God knows what is best what is needful for us, and all that he does is for our good. If we knew how much he loves us, we would always be ready to receive equally and with indifference the sweet and the bitter from his hand.” Page 71. How amazing that he kept a consistent walk with God until the final end of his life. It made me think am I fully aware of God’s love and that He has the best in mind for my life. Too often we think we have a better idea than God but that often leads to trouble. The best spiritual living is living with the awareness of the presence of God in all we do. Reflection: Think about a time in your life you were aware that God was there for you. How can you move deeper in an understanding of God’s presence in your life?