What would it be like to know the joys of paradise here and now - not as a reward for services rendered, but as the serendipitous gift of a generous God? What would it be like to "practice the presence of God" on earth as it is in heaven? For Brother Lawrence, it was an everyday discipline, breathing divine reality into every loaf of bread and every dish he washed. For most it is a "someday" kind of place, with occasional glimpses here and there along the way. For some, it is the reward for a life of obedience, for others a state of conscious connectedness. Getting there is the journey of a lifetime. Various religious traditions have different names for it - paradise, heaven, nirvana, but the images are similar - a place of peace and rest, of enlightenment and bliss. It continues to change lives.1įor the most part, the goal of the human religious quest is a direct encounter with divine being. It was said of him, "He pretended nothing, was compliant with everyone and tended to treat his brothers and friends amicably without being pretentious." His written reflection, titled The Practice of the Presence of God is today considered a spiritual classic. The experience changed his life and those around him. He once wrote that he felt nearer to God in the sanctuary of the kitchen than in the liturgy of the chapel. In later years, this "Kitchen Saint," as Brother Lawrence was called, would write about how his soul discovered intimacy with God by prayerfully inviting God into each and every assigned task, every conversation, and every relationship. Kneading bread might truly seem an unholy task to an ex-soldier, but Nicolas soon found his home in the labor of the kitchen. He found that unfulfilling, so he eventually joined a Carmelite monastery where he was assigned to menial duties in the kitchen. His quest for closeness to God first led him to life as a hermit. Wounded in war, he returned home to recuperate and thus began a process of soul searching that led to Christian commitment. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.In the early years of the sixteenth century, a young adventurer named Nicolas Herman left his parents' home near Lorraine, France, to join the French army. As we continue this practice, gently but persistently, we soon will find that the person of Jesus and his beautiful words are automatically occupying our minds, instead of the clutter and noise of the world-even the church-world.įrom The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship. In the evening, then, we can review how we did, and think of ways to do it better the next day.
Just decide to do it, and then do the best you can without harassing yourself. If God is the great longing of our souls, He will become the polestar of our inward beings.Īs a beginning step in this practicing process, we can choose to practice constantly returning our minds to God in Christ on a given day.
Soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass constantly returns to the north, no matter how the compass is moved. A new, grace-filled habit will replace the former ones as we take intentional steps toward keeping God before us. But these are habits-not the law of gravity-and can be broken. In the early time of our practicing, we may well be challenged by our burdensome habits of dwelling on things less than God. Our part in this practicing the presence of God is to direct and redirect our minds constantly to Him. This is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices my body also rests secure” ( Psalm 16:8-9). David knew this secret and wrote, “I keep the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. The first and most basic thing we can and must do is to keep God before our minds.
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