"The only way to get rid of misconceptions about contemplation is to experience it."~ Thomas Merton
Contemplation is nonsense to most Type A, analytical folks. A highly driven person tends to read the Scriptures like a legal manual of Christian do's and don't's to prove their point. Reaching the goal is everything. And Heaven tends to be their goal in the great by and by.
The contemplative however read the Scriptures like a love letter, where she reads the best parts again and again. She soaks them up. She holds those words of love in her heart, and meditates on them, as they nourish her heart in the mystery and wonder of God.
There in contemplation, she rests in God's Presence, as a child nestles in the lap of their dad, or like a nursing child rests against the breast of her mother.
Contemplation takes many forms, and it's always new every time we enter in.
As Meister Eckhart says so well, “Be willing to become a beginner every single morning."
Contemplation is when we open up our spirit, rather than being led by our soul. Contemplation is a spiritual encounter before it becomes a soulish reflection. We can, however, come to the opening of our spirit through our soul (as in Lectio Divina) or through our body (as in mindful breathing) just to name two.
However we enter in, transcendence and transformation are the results of contemplation, sometimes like a hurricane recking our ego’s life, but then, little by little, bit by bit, day by day, reviving, renewing, and restoring us again.
So how do you read the Advent Scriptures?
1. As a Legal Manual
2. As a Historical Story
3. As Wisdom Literature
4. Or as a Love Letter
Read the Scriptures with your breath and your being, Then Listen with your heart. They are a gateway into the eternal
~Bob Holmes #comeintothequiet