Return to Mindfulness

DeAnna Willman photo kelseychance@unsplash

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O YHWH my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” Psalm 30:11-12

I believe we need to return to our discussions about mindfulness in our journey here. It is easy to forget something that was discussed some time ago, especially if we have not been practicing what we learned. Mindfulness, being in the moment, being aware of what you are doing, thinking, saying, and how it is affecting you, those around you, and your environment. Being aware of how things and people around you are affecting you. Being deliberate in what we say, do, and think.

In 1 Corinthians Paul wrote “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (10:31). He told us to do ALL to the glory of God. So, we need to be mindful in ALL we do, say, and think in order to be certain we are doing it to the glory of God. The more we practice mindfulness, the easier it will become to capture your thoughts as well as discern whether something is truly being done for the glory of YHWH. Let’s look at some areas that may not seem spiritual, but practice of mindfulness even in the smallest of things will better prepare us to be mindful in “larger” things.

First, let’s look at eating. Paul mentioned it in his letter to the Corinthians. He said to eat and drink to the glory of God. So, are we eating and drinking in a manner that brings glory to our God? A good question!

The average American eats a full meal in 12 minutes. God created the stomach to send a message to the brain when it is full, but this message takes 20 minutes for the brain to receive once it has been sent. He created the first step in good digestion to be the chewing of the food. The more you chew, the more your saliva is mixed with your food or drink, enabling the stomach to better do its job.

Now, 12 minutes is nice for the restaurants who are looking for rapid turnover, especially if they have waitstaff. It is usually a necessity at school (especially for the teachers!) and sometimes at work. But is 12 minutes helpful, mindful, or even glorifying God? If we are treating His creation contrary to how He created it to work, are we honoring God? 12 minutes is enough time to inhale as much food as you can without doing much chewing, and ending up with indigestion, heart burn, and other gut issues, as well as usually overeating. Those 12 minutes are often accompanied by doom scrolling, racing thoughts about what needs to be done in the time you are “wasting” while eating, or in other negative thoughts or conversations. And did you even register any taste of what you were eating? God created tastebuds for us to ENJOY our food and drink. He created us to ENJOY the time we spend eating and the time spent with others. But enjoyment requires mindfulness. Mindfulness is required for doing something to the glory of God.

Another area where I know many of us are guilty of not being mindful is in our communication. There are those who simply do not communicate. Perhaps they feel their thoughts and feelings are not worth communicating; perhaps they use silence as a form of punishment or manipulation and control; perhaps they were not taught and encouraged to communicate in a healthy manner. They are like a toe that has been stubbed but refuses to communicate that to the rest of the body. They do not engage with others nor do they build relationship. There are some who spew words all over the place but communicate very little. Whether from trauma, a need to feel noticed, or simply not being taught effective communication, their form of communication does little to engage and uplift others or build a relationship with others. This is like a part of the body continually telling the rest of the body something that the brain is not able to decipher and process in order to respond. I've been guilty of both. Are either example glorifying God?

Then, there is the phone communication of today’s society. How mindful is it to see a text and then simply send back “loved/reacted to/emphasized/questioned the text you sent me.”? What exactly are we communicating to/with the other person? That we are lazy in our communication. We can’t even be in the moment long enough to respond in an appropriate manner that makes sense, builds on the conversation, and shows engagement with the other person. What if God started communicating with us in a similar manner?

Me- Hello, God. Your sunrise was beautiful this morning.

God- “Loved ‘Hello, God. Your sunrise was beautiful this morning.’”

Me- Father, I am feeling a bit low today.

God- “Ephasized, ‘Father, I am feeling a bit low today.’”

Me- “I know you said I am your daughter and a masterpiece, but I’m just not feeling very loved or loveable

today. Would you please send me some encouragement to get me past this feeling?

God- “Questioned, ‘I know you said I am your daughter and a masterpiece, but I’m just not feeling very loved

or loveable today. Would you please send me some encouragement to get me past this feeling?’”

OR

Me- Father, I just want to praise and thank you for all you have done for me!

God- “Responded to, ‘Father I just want to praise and thank you for all you have done for me!”

How strong would our relationship with God be if He was communicating with us the way we tend to communicate with one another? How engaged, encouraged, uplifted, or challenged would we be if He was so mindless in His communication with us? How important would we feel to Him if He so easily dismissed our attempts to communicate with Him as we do with one another? Is our communication with others mindful? Is it glorifying YHWH? You must be in the moment to effectively process what the other has said and how to appropriately respond. You must be mindful to glorify God in what you eat, drink, or whatever you do, say, or think.

There are so many other areas of life we could examine. The last one we will look at today is our thoughts toward ourselves. If God, whose word is truth, said you are a masterpiece, you were created with purpose, and that He loves you and calls you His child, are your glorifying Him by talking to yourself with things such as; “STUPID, I am so stupid!; I am an imposter; I am not worthy of friendship or love; I am a screwup; everyone would be better off without me; I never get things right; I am rejected; I can’t be forgiven for what I did; God obviously loves others but doesn’t love me; etc…”? Whatever you do, do it ALL for the glory of God. Even your thoughts- about Him, yourself, and others- are to glorify God. That requires mindfulness, as well as knowing and believing truth.

This week pick an area or two in your life where you need to practice mindfulness in order that you may be glorifying YHWH in ALL you do. Ask God to help you and even counsel you in how to be mindful in those areas. Ask Him to reveal to you things that may be hindering your mindfulness and by default preventing you from glorifying Him. I promise our Father will answer you clearly and mindfully. No emojis or “responded” responses that might result from not being mindful. No emojis or “responded” responses that might result from someone not being mindful. His thoughts of you are more than the sands on the seashore. He is mindful of you 24/7, and He will gladly communicate with you if you choose to listen.

Whether you work on enjoying your food and drink, on your communication with others, or simply work more at capturing every thought, especially toward yourself, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. HalleluYah!

Until next time….

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with fear of God, fear of God with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Master Yeshua Messiah.” 2 Peter 1:5-8