After a while, your conversations and, to some degree, your thoughts about religion and spirituality begin to run together. On this walk, I understand that speed is not an essential quality, but rather, a slower pace proves much more enlightening. Therefore, it is more likely that being still is preferential to being quick. My point is that words like prayer, peace, intimacy, personal, and balance all take on different, although complementary, meanings when it comes to God. Haven’t you heard many preachers say, suggest, or question whether or not you have a personal relationship with God or Jesus? Most people who profess to be Christian or claim to be saved say yes, of course. I know I have. But when I thought about it, I wondered, do I? This is when being still becomes so important (to me). If you think about it, how do you become personal to, or with, another human being, let alone God? Personal relationships result from a whole set of experiences, events, and challenges shared between people. Once established, like it or not, personal is a permanent state of being between you and that other person.
I happen to believe the same is true with God. You can’t be intimate with another being until you’ve become personal. That’s just a fact. Look at how many relationships start with what you think or fool yourself into believing is intimacy, only to find out later that when you want to relate personally, you find yourself trying to relate to a total stranger. If that happens in this world, it is understandable that it can easily happen in a world created and controlled by the Lord. To become personal, you must share all the little secrets, indiscretions, flaws, faults, and sins. Like a close personal friend or lover, you must confide in the Lord and, through Jesus, know He’s listening. When I slow down and deliberately still my consciousness, that’s when it makes sense to pray. Prayer is a personal conversation, the kind that you have with someone who knows and cares about you or whom you truly care about. Prayer is a central mechanism that relates to those involved with crises and love, those issues of the body, mind, and, yes, even the soul. Let’s see. Intimacy can only be achieved by establishing a close personal relationship. A close personal relationship can only be established by a conscious, consistent attempt to be transparent to someone else; no games, no hidden agendas. Prayer is the conversation, the vehicle to establish the framework in which personal relationships can provide spiritual intimacy. This seems to be the key to peace and balance, which I mentioned earlier. I’m not by any means saying this is easy. I’m simply saying God has a wonderful way of reminding us to be still. Stop playing. Listen, or better yet, expose yourself to His hugs and kisses. Cry on His shoulder. Ask for his help. Recognize that His counsel, much like that of a best friend, may not be what you want to hear but what you need to hear because it’s grounded in unconditional love for you, and His counsel is based on the truth. Maybe you can deal with this on the fly, but I can’t. If I equate my relationship to the Almighty on the principles of the best relationships I’ve had here on earth, then I’ve got work to do. There are still conversations (prayers) to be had and things to reveal. My vessel is not yet empty, but I’m working on it in an effort to replace my mess with God’s blessings. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and I’m told by my hopefully good friend Jesus that being still is a good place to start. So my advice to you is also to stop, look and listen.
May God bless you too.
This column is from James Washington’s Spiritually Speaking: Reflections for and from a New Christian. You can purchase this enlightening book on Amazon and start your journey toward spiritual enlightenment.
