“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19)
Imagine what your life would be like if you could truly heed this advice of Paul’s to the Thessalonians. It would be delightful to pray, give thanks and rejoice day and night–to live in the Spirit’s arms no matter what our circumstance. The key to this kind of abundant living, I think, is to be grounded in prayer. To pray without ceasing means to be consciously aware of God’s presence. It means we are constantly alert to the divine hand in all things. We can only cultivate this heightened consciousness through practice.
Spiritual disciplines, like the labyrinth and centering prayer give us a structure by which to center our awareness on the God of our salvation. They tune our ears to hear God’s voice over the babble of our busy lives. And indeed, this is cause for rejoicing.
Today is the fourth Sunday of Easter. The readings are Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30.
This message was adapted from, “Faith Reflections: Adding something for Lent” by Laura Gentry from the March 2006 issue of Cafe.
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