But, when was the last time you asked God to embrace you?
In case you forgot, God wants to hold you and spend time with you. There is nothing more He would rather do than love you and give you the better life that His love will bring.
This message was forwarded to me last Valentine’s Day and I have it saved in my inbox: "God is crazy about you. He sends you a sunrise everyday, flowers all year round. He has the universe, but prefers to live in your heart… Happy Love Day!" I never tire of re-reading this particular message. It always makes me smile.
Last November, I finally had the privilege of taking a centering prayer (CP) workshop at Santuario de San Antonio. I have always wanted to join one of these workshops but I never really knew when I would go to one. This one fine November day, everything just fell into place. Looking back, I believe it was no coincidence that I was able to attend the workshop, not anytime sooner or later.
It would be a grave injustice if I even attempt to compress in one article what CP is all about, more so if I even start to randomly enumerate its fruits and tell of the many lives that have benefited from it. CP is something that is appreciated more when it is personally experienced. In the same breath, let me also say that the experience is even more appreciated when it is savored.
I have always been taught that prayer is an activity. Well, it started as a two-way activity between me and my God, but as I grew up and life naturally became more complicated, prayer became more a one-sided activity, not always maybe, but often enough for it to hold true. I realize this now more than ever.
By one-sided I mean that although I never stopped praying, my prayer usually consisted of just babbling on and on. There were hardly long, quiet moments. When I was happy, I would go on and on in prayer, profusely thanking Him for all that was making me happy. When caught in a sad moment, I would pour my heart out and cast my cares to Him. Always, he offered what no one else could offer – rest for the frantic, panicky, sad soul. Always, He held out hope. And even when you are deliriously on top of the world, your joy becomes even greater when you have Him to share it with you, and yes, when you acknowledge that you have Him to thank for it.
But silence, too, is a prayer.
Centering prayer does not take the place of your usual prayer life. It is there to supplement it, make it even deeper than it already is. When you do CP, you just hang out with God in a most quiet, intimate way. You reconnect with Him in solitude and simplicity. No thoughts, no words, no expectations, no feelings. You bring nothing with you. You strive to prove nothing, you do not work, talk, or think to bring any point across. You do not even tell God what you want Him to do in your life. There is no need. Trust that He already knows. And as you sit quietly and consent to that time with Him, He will recharge you and begin to work His miracle in your life.
You know how it is when all you want to do is to be hugged, knowing in your heart of hearts that that hug will carry you through? We don’t want to be hugged for nothing. The need is always rooted on an emotion, be it happy or sad. CP is about that plus-more. You spend quality time with the Divine Being who treats us as nothing less than his beloved. What could be a greater gift than that? You just have to simply be. You just have to simply exist in the present moment and enjoy the time you spend with God for what it is.
CP is the best Christmas gift I gave myself last year. As Michael Bublé would croon, "It gets under your skin." Sometimes I do CP and the effects are immediate: There is a feeling of well-being, of serenity, of a peace that I cannot quite put my finger on. I am thankful for moments such as those, but over and above that, I never lose sight of the goal of CP that is inner transformation. Through CP, God heals us slowly but surely of our brokenness. We surrender to Him, melt into His presence and allow Him to work inside us. We don’t wake up one morning and say "Hey, I will be a different person today. I will test just how well CP is working in my life. Bring on the situations, Lord." Personally, I think the fruits of the prayer are perceptible when appreciated in the context of daily living, some manifestations are subtle as others are more dramatic. The change of heart is a grace pure and real.
Someone once said that God is the perfect gentleman. He will not scream at you to get your attention. He will woo you ever so gently, ever so quietly because His first and favorite language is silence. When you choose to spend time with Him, there is no way that you will not develop an intimacy, a closeness. Take one step, just one little step, and He will take a great leap to be by your side. That is how much He loves you. That is how crazy he is about you.
Start your love affair with God soon.
I leave you with this thought. In the book of Jeremiah, God promises that "When you seek Me with all your heart, I will let you find me." Let Him find you. Melt into His presence. Life is never about how bravely you struggle. Oftentimes, it can be about how willingly you surrender. Allow God to embrace you just as you are, and let His love heal you and make you the beautiful, wonderful, happy person that He made you to be.