Friday, January 4, 2013

Today’s text

John 1:14, 18

The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

Reflection

Where do you sit?

Few of us sit much at all, unless we are older or not well, and when we do sitting is something we are forced to do if only to rest so that we can go again.

The value in sitting is to allow us to run back into busy lives with greater energy. The value in just sitting is missed.

When we do not sit, the soul cannot grow deep and wise, calm and focused, knowing truth. Depth comes as we sit in the presence of holiness, our souls quiet and receptive as the grace of eternity opens our depths and communes with us there, opening the fountain of grace and truth.

I remember a friend from decades ago, Ken, who quietly spoke to me after a song was done playing on the stereo. Daylight was fading as the sun hung low in the west, and his face revealed the music had moved him deep inside of himself.

“I don’t spend enough time listening to music,” he said.

I knew what he meant. He didn’t spend enough time sitting and listening to his heart, to hear himself, his deepest wants and needs … and to hear the Other Heart who indwells us.

That Heart would fill his interior being with loving peace and beauty of soul as he found time and space to sit in the Presence of the holiness.

Jesus offers a picture of sitting in the Presence. He dwells close to the heart of the Father, sitting in close communion that the holy fire of God’s heart sets him aglow.

We are invited to sit close to him, to hear his words, to be warmed by the substance of his heart and to let the glow of his soul saturate our own, awakening the Heart within our own heart who emerges to flow through us with grace and truth.

The invitation is to dwell near Jesus that we may know what he knows, … make that Who he knows. We are to know that Who not as external reality but internal dwelling. Then, we shall stand in the same happy relationship with the One who is Love as he does.

We will know that One at the center of our souls. And when we quiet our hearts … listening to music, walking in nature, sharing conversation with a trusted friend we will move from the outer edges of our lives to the center, the heart, where we know this One.

And as we do, we realize again that we spend too little time … just sitting and knowing.

Pr. David L. Miller