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" When we know God by heart, we will recognize God in our world, its nature, its time, and its people. The discipline of contemplative prayer is the basis of the contemplative life and of all ministry." - Henri Nouwen

Pause: One source of abundant life occurs when we take time to disconnect from noise in the world and to prioritize time for contemplation. Attentive silence allows us to reverence God in all of creation in a way that is impossible when our schedules are cluttered. 

Reflect: If it is not already a part of your daily practice, make space for silent contemplation today. This could be in the form of centering prayer (or the I Love You prayer below), meditation, a walk in nature or anything that allows you to slow down and listen for the voice of God or love in your life.

 Practice: I Love You, I Love You

James Finley offers a simple guided meditation to awaken us to our oneness with Love.

When you sit in meditation, your breathing naturally slows. Quietly focusing your attention on your breathing is a way of slowing down and settling into a deep meditative awareness of oneness with God. Breathing out, be quietly aware of breathing out. Breathing in, be quietly aware of breathing in. Each time you realize you have drifted off into thoughts, memories, sensations, and other ego-based modes of being, simply return to your breathing as your anchoring place in present-moment attentiveness.

Your efforts in following the path of breath awareness might be enhanced by repeating a word or phrase with each breath. A practice I have found particularly helpful is to pair breath awareness with the phrase “I love you.”

As you inhale, listen to the incoming breath so intently that you can hear in it God’s silent “I love you.” In this moment, God is flowing into you as the source and reality of your very being. As you exhale, breathe out a silent “I love you” back to God. As you inhale, be aware of the air as being God flowing into you, as the divine gift of your very being. As you exhale, allow your silent “I love you” to be your very being, flowing back into the depths of God.

Simply sit, open to God breathing divine love into the depths of your being, as you breathe your whole being, as a gift of love, back into God.

This one practice alone, engaged in with heartfelt sincerity and devotion, can awaken you to God’s total and complete oneness with you as the giver, the sustainer, and the reality of the sheer miracle of your very being. As this realization of God’s oneness with you grows, you will begin to realize how foolish it is to imagine that God is, in any way, distant from you. You discover how foolish it is to imagine that you could in any way hide from God, who is wholly one with all that is within your mind and heart, your very being.
                                        (Adapted from Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God)