Today's Reflection

TO DEVELOP A MORE present-minded way of living, you might experiment regularly with an exercise that I first came across in the writings of Metropolitan Antony. The basic steps go as follows:

Set aside some time, perhaps five minutes, to do nothing. Simply sit down in your room and say, “I am seated; I am doing nothing. I will do nothing for the next five minutes.”

Having declared your intention for this little space of time, decide firmly that nothing will pull you away during these five minutes. If you find yourself emigrating mentally into the past or the future, bring yourself back to the here and now with the thought, I am here in the presence of God, in my own presence, and in the presence of all the furniture that is around me, just still, moving nowhere.

I have discovered that doing this exercise regularly builds up the capacity to live more deeply in the present within our everyday lives.

—Trevor Hudson, A Mile in My Shoes: Cultivating Compassion (Upper Room Books, 2005)

Today's Question

Try the spiritual discipline referenced above.  

Today's Scripture

“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?”
—Habakkuk 1:2 (NRSV)

Prayer for the Week

Give me the eyes to see when others hurt, the ears to hear when others cry, and the courage to bring light into their darkness.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room or share it in the comment section.

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• • Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
  • Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
  • 1 Timothy 6:6-19
  • Luke 16:19-31

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

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