Friday, September 01, 2006

Meditation



For a while I am going to try to have a more directed study time (and hopefully get into a better habit or routine of quiet times), I am going to focus every month on a new spiritual discipline. The purpose being to be able to learn how to connect with God in different ways and to grow my relationship with Him. This month is meditation. What do you know about it? What are your experiences with it? Got any good books?

10 comments:

tara said...

meditation is not one that im good at...i get antsy, which defeats the purpose...but i do have a great book for you- "captivating". i have talked about it before, but it is pretty awsome (written by staci eldridge, wife of the author of wild at heart). it isnt necesarily about meditation, but is about growing the woman inside of you- the one god intended for you to be. she talks about how god made us all so unique and have different gifts and how we can develope those things to honor others. anyway, probably a bad summary, but i highly suggest it.

arwen said...

i know you aren't into the whole "journaling" thing, but that is what I call my meditation. Ok, that and my walking time which I have very little of these days. I also heard that there is a boy in India (?) who has been meditating under a tree for 3 months or something. He hasn't eatten or drank anything. I hate to say it, but he may- or may not- be dead... and people just THINK he's meditating....

tara said...

i think you may be onto something-if he hasnt eaten or drinken- he is surely dead. (did i make up that word?? "drinken")so maybe that wouldnt be the best idea...arwen why do you want jess to die?

Kara Deal said...

Do you ever have really long prayer times? My old boss and I use to talk about different ways of praying and some of the things he said he did sounded more like meditation to me. He use to just sit with his eyes closed and entend on praying but wouldn't say anything until he could visually see Jesus' face. (A face, that he thought was Jesus) Then, he would say his prayer to the face. (That last sentenced sounds wierd.)

I tried it one day and never ended up praying because I never saw a face... I feel asleep. But it sounded really interesting.

He also said he would try and visualize his prayer lists. Like if he was "lifting up" a person for healing, he would visualize lifting up that person in one hand and placing them on an altar.

I know... it all sounds kinda freaky... but you really gotta know the guy. He's got a hear like Kevin Woods. He's just great and SO NOT freaky.

Let me know if you do it and it is meditation to you!

Jess said...

TT1: I have been interested in reading that book, actually since you mentioned in one of your blogs before.
Arawan: Please don't want me to die.
TT2: I like that new picture, but it is kind of blowing my mind to see it different on the same page...are there two of you?
KK: Good suggestions, I'll let you know.

Everyone: Did none of you see my amazing picture find? It doesn't get any better than that!

Also: Why don't I allow annonymous comments? I don't know...and I don't know how to fix it either!

Christi said...

A: So good to see you the other night!
B: Captivating = one of the best books ever...I couldn't put it down. There's a work book that goes with it as well that is equally as great.
C: Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" is a must-have. It talks about all of the different disciplines and it will blow...your...mind.

Kara Deal said...

Hey, I have a copy of "Celebration of Discipline" if you want to read it! It is a good one! It was a hard read for me though, maybe because I am not a book reader and I had to read it, or maybecause I had to read it for a grade. None the less... good book.

Jess said...

Dick Fo (richard foster) is one of my favorites. And this meditation thing was inspired from his Celebration of Discipline book. I am actually taking a year to go through all of the disciplines in the book, there are 12. We will see what happens.

Kristi said...

'Spiritual Disciplines For the Christian Living' By Donald Whitney is a good book. It covers all of the disciplines. Unfortunally I was not disciplined enough to finish it, but what I read was good

tabitha jane said...

i have a book called "principles of meditation" written for the western mind. it's great. it takes things in baby steps and explains the principles behind stuff and give you exercises for practice.
another that i have is called "20 minute retreats" i really like it because it gives you all sorts of ideas for creating sacred space and setting aside time for quiet and meditation.

enjoy!
and: namaste