Contemplate This!

i am currently reading a book i have had for a while. contemplative youth ministry by mark yaconelli, son of the late youth specialties founder mike yaconelli. the book focuses on applying variations of practices & methods for the purpose of recognizing the presence of Jesus in our everyday lives. while i know most of you who are reading this are not youth workers i think the principles still apply. one of the key things that the book focuses on is the benefit & necessity of silence. some catholic monks spend 20 hours a day in silent reflection. some buddhists will spend spend weeks in silence. the amish & mennonite communities value silence so much that they do not permit spoken prayers. why do i say all that. simply put, even these distortions & outright perversions of the Truth get one thing right that most of us do not, silence. when was the last time you took five minutes to be in silence. no phones, no homework, no parents/kids, no distractions. just you & God in what He desires most...time with His beloved. you all know i love giving assignments & projects. so here goes. i will give you two options. (1) take 5 or more minutes to meditate on your relationship with Christ, but do it in a loud, busy, crowded place. starbuck'’s, the grocery store, you get the idea. then take the same amount of time to do the same thing, but this time do it in silence. go into your closet & turn the light off if necessary. try to limit any & all noise as much as possible. then evaluate which seemed to be more effective. (2) there is an ancient practice that has been used by jews & christians for the purpose of connecting to the Word of God in a deeper way. it is called "lectio divina", meaning: divine reading. there are 3 steps. step1-pick a passage of scripture. read it 3 times & pray that God will direct your thoughts towards what the passage means as if you were the first person to ever read it. step2-read the passage 3 more times & use some tools (dictionary, commentary, whatever) to discover what the passage truly, at it'’s heart is speaking about. then pray. step3-read the passage 3 more times & pray about how God might be using it to direct your life through His word. bottom line: get quiet, calm down, listen... God is here. please tell me about your experiences.