Proof of God: Here’s how to get it.

In my last post, I talked about prayer as one of the three disciplines of Lent. I asked you to give meditation and contemplation a try and invited you to follow my Guided Meditation on this blog during Lent (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I also said I had a suggestion that would make your experience more special.

Actually, I have two:

1. Set a timer for your prayer session. It will free you from clock-watching, and allow you to concentrate only on your prayer knowing you’ll get to your next appointment on time.
2. Keep a prayer journal, however you want to define journal.

Keeping a journal has long been a popular practice for writers and other creative minds. You already keep a journal of sorts if you make “to do” lists or mark events on your calendar and review them at the end of the year or even years later. Both are a record of your life. Things you did. People you saw. Places you visited. Responsibilities you met. Efforts you made. Generations from now, people will learn a lot about you depending upon how and how much you wrote on those lists and calendars.

A prayer journal wouldn’t be much different. Oh, it could be elaborate with you writing word for word what you said to God and what He said back to you. Or it could be as short as a sentence or two. Or just a phrase. Or a single word. It could also be a color or a sketch, with or without words.

One question every human since Job has asked at some time or another is: Does God really exist? Or if they may tweak it to be more personal: Does God care about me? A prayer journal, long or short, will answer those questions for you.

When you take time to jot down even one word after your prayer, you are recording what is most true for you at the moment. An image or word that popped out at you. An emotion. A song or memory that came to your mind for seemingly no reason. The point is, there is a reason for what you experience at that moment in prayer. It is God’s response to you.

What you record in your prayer journal is like a footprint on your prayer journey telling you where you were and what direction God sent you in. What He wanted you to take another look at. What you still may have something to learn from. Over a period of weeks, months, and years you will have proof, on paper, of how God was Present for you; proof not only of His existence but of His concern for you in particular.

Americans, and citizens of many other modern cultures, are told to be the best. To produce, produce, produce. But try to let go of all that when you meditate and contemplate. You are not competing with anyone (not even yourself). You are not dabbling in natural phenomenon that can be scientifically measured.You are encountering the supernatural, the one God of the universe that is so above human understanding that no one can explain Him. We can only try to understand enough to connect with Him.

Are you still concerned about “doing” meditation and contemplation correctly? Don’t be. Every prayer is perfect if it is sincere. I’ll have some more suggestions concerning “how” to do it in my next post.

And remember, only you can say whether it is “worth it” for you. But you have to give it a fair try first.

See you next post. Be blessed.