Faith Venture

I once had a favorite phrase responding to the way I saw the attitude many people had toward prayer—God as the Great Vending Machine in the Sky.

Put your prayer token in the slot; get your goodie in the slot at the bottom.

I’ve been meditating since I was maybe 17. But I am always searching for feedback for assurance I’m still on the right path. People recently recommended a new app. The leader/teacher refers to each session as a “sit.”

Then I pictured times when I may have dropped a few “prayer tokens” into the vending machine, then speeding off to my next thing to do expecting a few good things to drop out in the end.

Then I tried a different picture. Try this one on for size. See if it can fit you.

Rather than an agenda and to-do list, we just sit. We are in a comfortable posture on a chair or pillow that we can maintain for 20 minutes or so. We can have soft instrumental music or nothing in the background. We close our eyes focusing on regulating our breathing into a regular, easy pattern. We ask God to visit—which is easy because God is always around us.

Then, we just sit with God. That’s it. Just God and me. Sitting together. Sometimes God might say something to us. If we are not so busy with our own agenda, then we may hear the whisper of the spirit.

We can then gradually return to the present, refreshed and ready for whatever the day holds in store. Be assured that God has felt what is on our heart.

This daily practice can make all the difference toward our health—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.

This entry was posted on February 20, 2025 at 5:05 am and is filed under Meditation, Prayer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.