Six Ways to Squeeze God In

Peggy S., our bookstore coordinator, just returned from a Christian booksellers' conference with gifts for the whole staff, and mine was a book by Keri Wyatt Kent called "Listen." The subtitle is "Finding God in the story of your life" and it's an incredible book. She admits in the last chapter that other books have the same points and ideas, but no one has the same story. And this book caught me and held me. It's a gentle read, and one of the things she takes on is the discipline of silence.

(Paraphrasing...) "Cell phone companies offer 1,000 minutes a month, which works out to about 16.5 hours, or 30 minutes a day. How many of us actually spend 30 minutes a day in God's presence? And what would it do for our faith if we did?"

With that in mind, here are six ways we can practice and teach for spending time in God's presence, and in silence, listening for Him, every day.

1. Keep the radio off in the car while commuting. (Tip of the hat to Fr. Wheeler here at CSMSG; this is his discipline.)
2. Have the first cup of coffee with an icon of a saint or of Christ.
3. Record five minutes of silence, save it as an MP3 and load it into your iPod.
4. When it's dark, light a candle and hold it in your hands. You'll be able to see the candle and hands, but nothing else. Reflect on physically carrying Christ in your life.
5. Have a silent meal and really focus on enjoying and being thankful for your food.
6. Wake up early-- really early-- now and then. Open a window and listen to God's world waking up.