And now here's Tim & Kathy Keller, for a short
time of Q&A, on today's meditation. [6:55]
KK: When you were reading that Scripture, the
verse that really jumped out at me was:
“Be still & know that I am GOD.”
And the women in my Bible study, that I
was talking to, we had a zoom Bible study
on Thursday [April 2, 2020].
One of the topics that kept getting kicked
around was, “How can we utilize this time
of quarantine & lockdown etc., so that we
come out on the other side stronger?
Better? Wiser? Smarter?
So do you have any ideas? You know here
we are in a period of enforced stillness,
who would have ever thought you could
do such a thing in New York City?
The city that never sleeps is now forced
to be still, it's the whole thing, lockdown
all of the whole thing is going to be just
wasted if we come out on the other side
having not changed a bit.
Spiritually grown.
Grown is in our relationships, personally
just give me some of your thoughts on it;
this has come up in my ladies' Bible Study
I'm sure it's come up in the minds of a lot
of other peoples' mind:
“What do we do with this time? So that
we come out on the other side stronger,
better, wiser.”
TK: I think that's a very wise thing to pick up on,
“being still,” there's been plenty of things
written about the fact that we are the least
contemplative culture in history.
People have no time.
I mean I read from Jonathan Edwards & I do
know that Edwards spent a lot of time riding
on his horse from place to place.
It would take him an hour to get to you know
to go see a a parishioner, & on the way he
would think & pray.
And actually one of the funny things is that
what he would do is when he would get an
idea he would take notes.
And he would pin them to his coat because
it was the only thing he could do, & so some
times he would arrive at parishioner's place
with little [notes stuck on his coat]..
He look like a pin cushion.
But that's because he had
time to think & we do not.
4.1] Get Disciplined To Focus on GOD
And I do think that what we have to do is:
We have to cultivate contemplative habits.
[a] It does mean praying more, but I mean really
[b] learning how to pray, it does mean maybe
[c] praying morning & evening,
[d] it does mean reading the Psalms,
[e] it does mean perhaps journaling.
When I'm reading the Bible, I find because of
my temperament or maybe the way in which
I learned things.
If I write down my thoughts, I remember them
better & they become more clear. It's not really
journaling.
It's not really a diary. It's just writing out what
I am reading & very often it's easier for me to
meditate on it & pray it back to GOD, if I have
written it down.
————————————————————-
So I do not know what your contemplative
habits are going to be, but we are the least
contemplative, busiest, most mobile, run-
ning around group of people I know!
————————————————————-
And the big danger is where I still on our cell phones
at home, & if you just allow & our zoom calls, so you
could be just as dominated.
You really do need solitude.
You do need to get into your prayer closet & this is
the time to do it because we don't have commutes
We actually can make time for that right now & I do
think therefore being still in order to meet GOD
would be a wonderful slogan for this time. [10:24]
KK: It might fall on deaf ears, if you're talking
to parents who are trying to work at home
& have a couple of kids underfoot.
TK: True, they do go to bed though.
KK: Well they do go to bed, & there is such a thing
as trading off morning and evening [yup] that
sort of thing. So ok, well that's good advice.
I read a book, I mean the book title years ago
called, “Don't Waste Your Sorrows.”
TK: Right
KK: Bye Paul E. Billheimer, I think. It's funny and
never read the book, never read the content
because the title was so challenging.
I didn't feel, I felt like I didn't really
TK: In some ways it's a good book, but actually the
KK: Title says it all, right, so here we are in a time
of sorrow & confusion, and everything's up..
upsidedown
TK: Don't waste your shut down.
KK: Yeah don't waste your shut down. Don't waste
your confinement / quarantine, get something
out of it! Don't just grit your teeth & say,
“When is this gonna be over?” [mummbling]
But find ways to use what you've been given.
TK: I agree.
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Meditate GOD's Word P1,2,3,4 | Timothy J. Keller [Psalm 46:1-11]
the great cloud-whale
wanders idly through the blue mid-winter sky
gazing at the silent city.
fading yellow school buses
cut through restless streets
and grumbling traffic lights,
plucking out fine stitches
of this vehicle embroidered city,
one by one,
like a countdown.
a curious kitten peeks quietly from behind
the tall sack of fresh green lemons, uncannily perfect,
at clamouring people:…
“I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion”* I had nothing to give Apart from the soup of my muddled thoughts The hate, the disgust, the disappointment Wrapped with the love and amazement of life. I had nothing to offer to this world But my story in all its truth The memories, the laughter, the jokes The struggles, the fights, the late night rendezvous Sometimes with a certain death…
