You and God …

Yesterday I had nothing to write.

At least not anything that didn’t seem to be a cliché, trite or something in which I had no interest.

I had nothing. But the column begs for words. Then I remembered.

Nothing.

A whole book is devoted to the act of emptying out of all distraction and worldliness that the fullness of God will have room to fill the “nothingness.”

The book is named “The Cloud of Unknowing”. I was introduced to this book in seminary.

One text which partially explains this mystical phenomenon is: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground dies, itself alone remains:  but if it dies it brings forth much fruit.”

At some point the serious Christian must sit in silence and say, “Thy will be done.”

We must become empty of all that is not God to receive all that is God, to know God’s will completely. Prayer which is all words does not allow for a melding of God’s spirit with ours.

Relaxing and opening the heart to God creates space for God to enter the soul.

A quote from the book summarizes: “That which I am and the way that I am…  I offer it all to you.”

In simpler terminology, we might say, “We must make room for God in our lives.”

We are tempted to overwhelm God with words. God says to us, “I know.”

What if we just rested in the presence of God, while visualizing the details of the world being whisked away for a while.

Just you and God, alone, together.

This allows God to direct your prayers, instead of you banging on heaven’s door begging for what God already knows you need and want.

Maybe the greatest form of prayer is this from “The Cloud”:  “The second step is the rejection of all thought and feeling of my own being to be conscious only of the being of God.”

There it is. I had nothing on my mind and here it is.

Moving to the deeper places,
Jeff