Be still and know that I am God

 Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

Part of this journey that I am on is learning how to be more spiritual.  In order to accomplish this, I have decided I need to learn how to meditate.  I read this article that listed 20 famous successful people and it said one thing they all had in common was that they meditated for at least 20 minutes every day.  Well, that was good enough for me.  A few years ago I borrowed a book that told you step by step how to meditate and even had a couple of cds to give you more information.  It stressed me out more just reading the instructions, so I gave the book back the same day.  Honestly, I think someone should write a book called Meditation for Dummies for me. 

            When it came to being spiritual, my granny was the queen.  I was born in a coal mining camp in the hills of Kentucky and lived off and on with her and granddaddy.  They did not drive and either walked or took the bus almost everywhere they went.  Because granny could not get to church that much, she would hold Bible studies and prayer meetings at her house.  As a young child, I never understood why those women always came to her house, but when I got older I knew.  My granny had such a calmness about her that I have never had and probably never will.  She could sit with her Bible and read and sing to herself.  This was her form of meditation.  It worked for her.  She lived that verse from Psalms that told her to be still and know that God was taking care of all her problems.  Even though I am very familiar with this verse, I tend to want to jump in and solve my problems my way and the quickest way possible. Now do you see why I need to learn to meditate?

            In one corner of my living room there is a chair, a small table, and a fountain.  That seemed like a good place to start meditating.  I am alone during the day except for my dog, Buster.  To get started, I set the timer on my stove for 20 minutes, lit my white candle, and turned on the fountain.  Surely the sound of water would help me relax and focus.  As soon as I closed my eyes, I got a tickle in my throat and I started to sneeze.  This was not a good beginning, but I kept my eyes closed.  Not sure of what I was supposed to be saying while I meditated, I could only think of the movie Finding Nemo where the character says, “Just keep swimming.”  So I kept repeating in my mind, “Just keep focused.”  Oh my, this was harder than I thought it would be.  Other thoughts were going through my mind such as,” The fountain is making a funny noise and probably needs more water.  I’d better take care of that as soon as the timer goes off because I don’t want to ruin the motor on the fountain.”   Just keep focused.  Click, click, click.  I heard my dog’s nails as he ran around on the wooden floor in front of me.  He was trying to get my attention.  I kept my eyes closed because if I made eye contact with him he would want to play.  Just keep focused, just keep focused.  I heard the birds outside making loud sounds.  “Oh no, “I thought to myself. “I left the back screen door open and what if a bird comes in?”  In my mind I could see the scene from that movie where the birds attacked the town and everyone it in.  Those people who know me are aware of my fear of birds.  “Well, your train of thought has really gone off the tracks,” I told myself.  When it felt like the timer would never go off, it finally did.  Oh my, this did not go as well as I had hoped.  But I will just keep meditating to the best of my ability each day.  And in the meantime I will continue to keep an eye out for that Meditation for Dummies book.