Let’s say that you gave your friend a gift. Not just any gift, but something significant,
something we had considered especially for them, something we think might even
be significant for them. We take some
time to display it to them, wrapped, indicate that it is especially for them,
chosen by us. They unwrap it, glance at
it, then set it aside and continue talking to us about their latest drama.
Wouldn’t we be frustrated? Wouldn’t we be tempted to be
angry? We had gone to all our effort, but they didn’t care.
The Spirit has done the same thing. He has given us today. All the events, all
the scenery, all the food, all the people—they were especially established for
us, this day. It isn’t that the Spirit
wants us to give thanks for every conversation, every bite of our breakfast,
every moment of peace. However, it might
not be too much to ask for us to pay attention to what we are doing, to what we
are saying, to what we are receiving.
This is another spiritual discipline. To just focus on what we are doing. To pay attention to our spouse when they
speak to us. To attentively listen to
the music we are hearing. To actually taste
the food we are eating.
We all multitask sometimes.
We have to. We will be taking
care of our kids while on the phone.
Someone will talk to us over our TV show. Life happens.
But when we make multitasking our life… which is happening more
frequently to us who live partly in cyberspace… we no longer experience
anything. Nothing is memorable, and the
greatest events of our lives slip through our fingers, often without a memory.
It is a form of meditation to take certain events, certain
moments and just pay attention to them.
Treat a moment in nature as a significant event, not to pass through
quickly, but to remember. Consider the
smells, the sight, the feel. Recognize
that the Spirit is with you. Appreciate
his presence.
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