Ten Minute Mystic: Part 4: Growing in Possessions through Practicing the Presence (1)

Focus

As Jesus guides us regarding possessions, one principal he repeats again and again has to do with focus and awareness.  Jesus urges us to keep our “eye” on things that will lead to generosity rather than to stinginess (Matt. 6:19-23).  He asks us to “look” at how God takes care of the material needs of flowers and birds and therefore to consider that God will similarly take care of us (Matt. 6:25-30).  Jesus requests that we seek God’s reign rather than running after material goods (Matt. 6:33). 

What we focus on has a tremendous impact on the direction we head regarding possessions.  In fact, Jesus states that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matt. 6:21) That is, whatever we choose to focus on, whatever we choose to prize and prioritize, will affect our heart.  Prize and prioritize possessions, and eventually your heart will be devoted to them.  Further, Jesus says “if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” (Matt. 6:22-23)  In a literal sense, whatever your eye focuses on affects the direction of the rest of the body (think about a time when you were distracted while driving, and suddenly the whole car moved in the direction of whatever your eyes were focusing on).  Spiritually, whatever you think about affects the direction of the rest of your life.  The word “healthy” can mean “generous.”  The word “bad” can mean “stingy.”  Focus on things that lead to generosity, and your whole life becomes generous.

Practicing the Presence

What’s needed therefore is a discipline to help change our focus.  Practicing the Presence is that discipline.

This habit comes to us from two men: Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach.[i]  Lawrence was born Nicolas Herman in 1611 in France.[ii]  He entered the world in poverty.  In 1666 Lawrence entered a religious community of Carmelites in Paris as a Lay Brother.  There, he took the name Brother Lawrence and he worked mostly in the kitchen.  He was still a member of this community when he died in 1691.  He is known to us primarily through a few his letters and four “conversations” written by others who knew him.

Lawrence became widely known and sought after because of his habit of keeping God constantly in his mind.  He put it this way: “I made it my business to be in the Lord’s presence just as much throughout the day as I did when I came to my appointed time of prayer.  I drove anything from my mind that was capable of interrupting my thought of God.  I did this all the time, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my daily business.”[iii]  This was the core of what came to be known as practicing the presence of God—being conscious of God all day long, even in the height of our daily business.

Lawrence described the habit as a “continual conversation”: “You need to accustom yourself to continual conversation with Him—a conversation which is free and simple.  We need to recognize that God is always intimately present with us and address Him every moment.”[iv]  The practice involved a running conversation with God.  It grew from the conviction that God was present at all times.

Lawrence’s goal was to become as conscious of God during the day as was during what we might call his “quiet time”: “I began to use my regular times of devotion in the same way I did the rest of my time, in fixing my mind on the presence of God….My set times for prayer are exactly like the rest of the day to me.  They are but a continuation of the same exercise of being in God’s presence.”[v]  He strove to fix his mind on God all day long.

This goal, however, required much perseverance.  Lawrence confesses, “This new practice revealed to me even more of the worth of the Lord….That was the beginning.  The next ten years were very hard, and I suffered a great deal….”[vi]  The simplicity of the practice belies its difficulty.  Lawrence spent years before reaching a point where he could focus on God each moment of the day, regardless of what he was doing.

Perhaps his best advice to those who sought to follow in his footsteps was this: “Forget him the very least you can.”[vii]  While the goal may be to remember God each moment of the day, a beginning point is this: forget God the very least you can throughout the day.

This discipline doesn’t take ten minutes.  In fact, it doesn’t require any time at all.  This is not a habit in which we set aside ten minutes or ten thousand minutes to practice it.  This is a habit to be practiced in the midst of everything else we do.  As we eat breakfast, rush to school or work, change a diaper, fold laundry, complete a report, return emails, fix dinner, wash dishes, or pick up around the house, we strive to focus on and be aware of and converse with God.  We focus on God and his presence even in the height of our daily business.

Thus today, forget God the very least you can.

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[i] Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach, Practicing His Presence The Library of Spiritual Classics, Volume 1 (Christian Seed Sowers, 1973).

[ii] Ibid., xi-xii.

[iii] Ibid., 60.

[iv] Ibid., 55.

[v] Ibid., 76, 78.

[vi] Ibid., 76.

[vii] Ibid., 91.

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