“God is not pleased with me.”
Do you really believe this?
Why would God not be pleased with you?
The actions of Jesus reveal a God who is loving, compassionate and inclusive.
Perhaps it is YOU who is not pleased with yourself.
When you sit in the silence of Centering Prayer you sit with a God who unconditionally loves you.
Or as I once heard William Meninger say at a weekend retreat,
“God is going to love you and that is it!”
The wonderful thing about Centering Prayer is that you can bring these thoughts with you to your sit.
You can let them go and leave them there.
They are only thoughts.
They are not who you are.
You are not your thoughts.
There is much more depth and beauty to who you are.
Let me repeat this again.
YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS.
Centering Prayer helps you begin to take a position behind your thoughts and observe them.
And then let go of the ones that don’t serve you.
Is God pleased with you?
YES
God is pleased with you.
God wants you to enjoy life.
You are “a ray of God’s own light” as I read in the epilogue of Martin Laird’s book, Into the Silent Land.
Go Further:
Open Mind, Open Heart 20th Anniversary Edition by Thomas Keating and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening were the first two books I read as I began my Centering Prayer practice.
Be Still and Listen: Experience the Presence of God in Your Life by Amos Smith
Tools Matter: Beginning the Spiritual Journey (The Matters Series) by Mary Margaret Funk
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Contemplative Light offers courses on contemplative practices (Christian Meditation, Centering Prayer, The Examen, Lectio Divina, The Jesus Prayer), the Christian mystics (ancient and current) and spiritual writing. Peruse their wonderful offerings.
The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault: Jesus first and foremost is a Wisdom teacher, grounded in the universal traditions of spiritual transformation, and the first teacher of non-dual consciousness the West had ever seen. Almost two thousand years ahead of his time, he stands in the lineage of the great Jewish prophets, the master “cardiologist” entrusted with implementing the promise made to the prophet Ezekiel: “I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Centering Prayer by Cynthia Bourgeault: Centering Prayer is a simple, no-frills form of meditation in the Christian tradition. Since it was first developed by Christian contemplative monks in the 1970s, it has allowed tens of thousands of practitioners worldwide to “return home,” developing an authentically Christian meditation practice which not only delivers the healing and quieting of the mind typical of all meditation paths, but also reconnects directly to Christianity’s hidden treasury of mystical and transformational wisdom.
The Gospel of Thomas by Cynthia Bourgeault: This e-course, “The Gospel of Thomas with Cynthia Bourgeault,” is a complete “Thomas starter kit”: everything you need to know to get you up and running with this remarkable text, plus a generous sampling of its most important sayings, arranged thematically so that they speak to issues that contemporary spiritual seekers are actually dealing with.
For over 2000 years men and women have set out for the hills, fields and mountains to become Monks – searching for happiness, freedom, peace, joy, balance, fulfillment, confidence, stability, passion and God. Who says the rest of us can’t experience the same things?
