Here we are on another mindfulness Monday. I wonder what is on your mind today?
It’s a significant Monday in some respects as it’s the end of Mental Health Awareness Week. This year we were encouraged to promote the amazing benefits that nature brings for our well-being by going outside for 2 minutes everyday and taking photos. I wonder did you take part?
It’s also the end of Christian Aid Week, and many people I know have been involved in the 300,000 steps challenge to raise money, which has been fantastic. I wonder, did you do anything for Christian Aid Week?
It’s also the middle of the global wave of prayer Thy Kingdom Come, a period of 10 days between Ascension and Pentecost, when we are encouraged to pray for 5 people to come to know Jesus. Who could you pray for?
Oh and it’s also my Godsons 18th birthday and a member of our fellowships 95th birthday! Is anyone you know celebrating a birthday?
Wow how much information is there to share, it’s almost too much - it’s information overload, which is why mindfulness is becoming so important. Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing our attention on the present moment, and accepting it without judgment. So let’s just stop and focus our attention on the present moment. Take in our surroundings.
What can you see, what can you hear?
I read an article in Premier Magazine about mindfulness, the writer wondered why people needed mindfulness classes and groups, when we have prayer. He concluded there was a clear difference, because prayer was talking to God and mindfulness was listening.
So let’s reword those questions. Where can you see God right now as you take in your surroundings? What is God saying to you? Sit still for a while and be mindful of His presence, His voice and His love for you. Enjoy His company, purposely focusing on Jesus in the present moment.
A prayer shared by the Bible Reading Fellowship, adapted from Steven Croft’s book Comfortable Words:
Father, please give us the courage to stop, to listen, to be ourselves, to sit for a while and find those moments of renewal when we hear you speak. Amen.
I’d love you to share your pictures of what you can see and if you hear God speak, and encourage others with your story, if appropriate.
Yes the Lord has done amazing things for us, what joy!!
Psalm 126:3
Yvonne Campbell