Meditation

  Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Psalm 119:97

“Meditate?”  

“I don’t meditate”, you say.  “I don’t practice Buddhism, Hinduism or some other Eastern religion.”

 Well, I am beginning to realize that most people DO meditate, even if they are not aware they are meditating.  I think this may especially be true of women.   

To meditate means to engage in deep thought, ruminate, ponder, contemplate, reflect.  It comes from the Latin meditārī, which means, to reflect upon.

Have you ever worried about something excessively?  Ever put a lot of time into pouring over fashion magazines, celebrity gossip rags, or even staring in the mirror?  How about the home improvement channel?  Or wandering around one of the home improvement warehouses just wishing you could afford this or that for the house you live in.  What about the cooking channel, Oprah, Dr. Phil, or any of the myriad talk shows?

At some point in my life, I have done all these things and I was indeed “meditating” because that was where my thoughts were centered.  I stressed about how to dress, how much I weighed, making the house as beautiful as my friend’s house, self-diagnosing my perceived personality flaws.  Once, I even centered my thoughts on a book about meditation because I was seeking peace.  

None of the things I have ever meditated on have given me peace except the Word of God and the evidence of His presence.  I believe that the Bible is the Holy, inspired, inerrant Word of God.  Once I began to meditate on these words, I began to experience true peace.  

 

It took time to cement this habit, but it was so worth it.  Attending a worship service once a week is NOT ‘meditating’ on scripture.  I had to read the Bible daily and sometimes multiple times a day.  One of my favorite new resources for this habit is the Daily Audio Bible podcast.  Check my previous post about the DAB to learn more.

Are you stressed and worried or are you at peace?  If you are not at peace, try choosing a passage from the Bible that speaks into your situation.  Write it on a card and meditate on that passage. Whenever you catch your thoughts taking you on a negative path, pull out that card and think on that passage. 

 Here is a link to a search I did on the word "meditate" on Bible Gateway. 
http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=meditate&searchtype=all&version1=31&spanbegin=1&spanend=73