Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, January 23, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I struggle with meditation. It’s a practice I have tried to develop on and off since I have been in the recovery community. In eighteen years I have yet to succeed in being consistent. I have what a friend of mine says is called “restless mind”—one of the greatest stumbling blocks to meditation. As soon as I start trying to quiet my mind, it goes off on wild tangents and I have to bring it back to my breath over and over and over again until I finally say, “Phooey. This isn’t doing me any good.” And when that happens over and over, I get to the point where even the thought of sitting and meditating spikes my anxiety, so I’m starting off on the wrong foot.
I’m in the process of trying yet again to establish this regular practice. I am told it is so fruitful in so many ways, and I believe it to be true. The practice is ancient and exists across countless cultures and faith traditions. Here, the psalmist speaks of meditating on God’s law day and night, and how that brings happiness—delight, even. (Day and night? I’m lucky to get 5 minutes some days!)
Of course it’s not the meditation itself that brings happiness according to the psalmist, but specifically the content of the meditation—God’s law. Deeply contemplating the nature and content of what it is that God wants for us and from us gives us the presence of mind to resist “the advice of the wicked”, to choose a different path than the one that “sinners tread”, to accept God’s direction and love without being a “scoffer”.
In that case, I suppose that even the practice of writing these daily devotions is a kind of meditation on God’s Word, and I do find it fruitful (and I hope you do, too.) I’ll still keep trying to build up a regular practice of quieting my mind and being fully present in the moment, focusing on my breathing, and inviting God to be fully present with me. But in the mean time, I am grateful for these moments of deep contemplation of scripture.
What does meditation mean to me?
