ONLY GOD CAN MAKE A TREE

(Edited from first publishing September 2009)

WARNING!! This re-post concerns
 prayer, meditation and God--
AS EACH UNDERSTANDS GOD
--OR NOT!

*

SILENCE!

I recall in grade one, Sister Rose Gertrude --when all else would fail--shouted (her whole four feet of body shaking) "SILENCE!"  And boy, would we get quiet.  A pin dropping sounded like baseball bouncing on floor.

 SHHHHHH!

In the small country church, at certain times during mass, quiet was so quiet, it was LOUD.  But quiet lent itself to momentary feelings of peace, serenity.  I remember counting my heartbeats, because I could hear them, in the silence.
 
Early in sobriety, a man told me when I 'talk' to God, to be quiet, and know that He is God, not me.   This was my first inkling how to 'implement' meditation and prayer, how to start.  I realized then, that quietness had to be a part of it.
 
I have seen people praying agitatedly, gripping their hands together, and with furrowed, sweaty brow, trying to 'decode' God, and that may be good for some Peeps. 

My praying has evolved into a more meditative mode.  I sometimes simply desire to be with God, just be there, and enjoy the moments. (After all, God knows what I need and/or want--grin!)

NOTE: I believe there is no 'right' nor 'wrong' way to pray, Okay?!! My OWN opinion continues:

 
Meditation is union with God.  If I am upset, making plans, counting minutes or rosary beads while wishing I were somewhere else, it is very difficult to form that Oneness.  
 
One word can start me off—Silence! Being quiet is a beginning of meditation.  Each event, the beginning of a new life.  

In August 2009 a 3,000-mile 17-day scooter ride to Virginia was for me a life-changing event. That experience allows me to look now at the universe in a totally new way.
 
My beliefs may change over time. They will not alter this fact: my whole self felt then and now-- different. A new person inhabits this skeleton.  A few Peeps might might scoff, but I know what I know.
 
My gratitude-of-the-moment was and is for people God arranged for me to meet during my ride.  Several taught me valuable lessons, by baring their souls to me, a stranger. Others, caring and sharing, were at church celebrations, AA meetings. Still others were those random meetings of strangers in the night! And how wonderful are those chance encounters,  spiritual moments happening with open sharing of our disease--humanness.
 

Meditation goes beyond limitation of words and thoughts.  In early schooling I was told Who God is. I had been given an image of God.  But none of that is as I now imagine.  I make no attempt in word or thought to visualize God.

Hundreds of years ago a mystic wrote in The Cloud of Unknowing,  "You want to know God? There is only one way of knowing Him:  By unknowing."  I must get beyond my mind and thought. Only then am I able to perceive Him with my heart.
 
And in noiseless moments, stillness, quiet, silence, I can "know God", at first vaguely, then more and more clearly as time endures. I can live in Him and He in me.  

Wake up now, Steve! There are some roses to smell...

Peeps?..............oh, THERE you are!
Peace.
Love.
Steve

Posted by steveroni

September 16, 2009

 *ACORN DRAWING (SQUIGGLING!)

--BY CES P ADORIO

MY GOOD FRIEND