Useless Thoughts – No Substitute for Communion with God – Devotional for July 1, 2011

I just spent some time on Facebook and Twitter reviewing postings of my “friends.” I am reminded of the words of Brother Lawrence: He said that useless thoughts spoil all – that mischief began there. Boy are there some useless thoughts online. I guess we all have a deep desire to communicate. One pretty good thing I did see online today was this:“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” – Plato I’m afraid there are few “wise men” on line these days. Maybe our compulsion to communicate is generated by our lack of real communication with our Creator. After all, we were created for communion with God. Again from Brother Lawrence:  We ought to reject useless thoughts quickly and return to our communion with God. 
I am encouraged because even Brother Lawrence did not find this easy. His first steps in trying to establish communication with God did not go real well. In the beginning he had often passed his time appointed for prayer in rejecting wandering thoughts and falling right back into them. He could never regulate his devotion by certain methods as some do. At first, he had practiced meditation but, after some time, he gave up on that.  
It seems the keys to success in this area are persistence and the willingness to spend the time necessary. Before we claim to be “too busy” we should probably spend some time analyzing how we spend our time. I bet if we spend just one day recording how we spend every minute, we would stop claiming to be “too busy” and admit to being “too lazy.”
Are we ready to do what it takes to develop communion with our God?

Nick

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