Mindfulness has become a common topic to hear about in our world today. I have been discovering its benefits myself lately. But to be clear, when I speak of “mindfulness” I am speaking of grounding myself in the present moment and my surroundings, meditating on them in a way that brings stillness and is a helpful focus.
My personality carries the lovely slant of finding anything new or popular to be suspect. So of course the current trendiness of mindfulness has made engaging with it a bit of a wrestle for me.
You can imagine my delight when I came across some reading encouraging me that this thing that feels a little like the latest fad is not new. Further, that the way I have been engaging in it is something that has been encouraged in the church historically.
I offer a couple of these passages for anyone who might also appreciate the encouragement.
…if many of us knew how to spend a little time daily in the calm repose of contemplative retirement, we should find ourselves less exhausted by the wear and tear of our worldly duties. …Just as a change of posture relieves the weariness of the body, a change of thoughts will prevent your spirits becoming languid. Sit down in a chamber at eventide, throw the window up, look at God’s bright stars, and count those eyes of heaven. Or if you like it better, pause in the noontide heat, look down upon the busy crowd in the streets, and count the men like so many ants upon the anthill of this world. Or if you care not to look about you, sit down and look within yourself, count the pulses of your own heart, and examine the emotions of your own breast.
Charles Spurgeon
English Baptist preacher 1834-1892
Praise and admiration are the going forth of the understanding upon an excellent object. Now when you shall read the book of creation, you will have reason to praise the Author of it. When you cast your eyes upward and consider the heavens, it is God that hath stretched forth that rich canopy over our heads. When you cast your eye down and consider the vast body of the earth – it hangs in the air, which is so weak a thing that it cannot hold up a feather – it is founded upon the power of God. When you consider the vast collection of waters in the sea, that such a raging element should be bounded with the sand, which is the weakest thing; how should this teach us likewise to admire His power! He that will but converse with creation thus by way of meditation will learn to admire the unsearchable wisdom, the unspeakable goodness, and the infinite power of God.
William Bates
English Presbyterian 1628-1699
Passages taken from The Free Grace Broadcaster Issue 245
