Saturday, February 25, 2012

Don’t Just Sit There

I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Psalm 77:12

010 When I think of meditation, the first thing I always think of is trying to teach my mother. I’ve practiced meditation many different times and ways during my life and often found it beneficial. Teaching my mother should have been an easy task, sit her down, explain the principles, give her an example and that would be it. Unfortunately it didn’t go that smoothly. From the moment we sat down she was cracking jokes and making snarky comments. I think at one point she even blew out my candle. By the time I gave up, she was relaxed but mostly because she had amused herself. 

This verse used to make me think that you needed to sit down with a list of what God created and say thank you. (Not that couldn’t be a valid and worthwhile exercise) But after looking up the Strong’s concordance for this verse, I think it changes how I think. The word for meditate is hagah which in addition to meaning ‘growl’ also means ‘imagine’. And the word for consider is siyach which can mean ‘talk or sing’. So this verse that made me think of long lists and rote gratitude is suddenly something much more active. I’m ‘imagining’ everything that God has done and will be doing and then I’m ‘talking and singing’ about it! To me that seems like something much more joyful than just sitting around. 

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