Celebration of Discipline is a book that I have been forced to read twice in my life. When you are forced to read something, you tend to go through it as quickly as possible. I speed read it both times, and I don't really know how to speed read. I picked the book back up and started reading it again the other day. One of the suggestions the author, Richard Foster, makes is to use your imagination while you pray. He says that while he prays, he imagines God doing the thing he is praying. For example, if he were praying for God to heal someone's broken leg, he would imagine Jesus coming into the room and straightening the leg out. As I read it, I thought, That's weird, and immediately tried it out.
Imagining God acting as you pray is not an exercise in positive thinking; it is a way to focus your whole mind on God. I have discovered that my mind does not wander as much because every part of my mind is engaged in the prayer, not just the part of my mind that makes my mouth move. Now, should you imagine God, or Jesus, and start worshipping the image in your mind? Obviously not. God is much more than anything you can imagine.
Imagining God acting as you pray is not an exercise in positive thinking; it is a way to focus your whole mind on God. I have discovered that my mind does not wander as much because every part of my mind is engaged in the prayer, not just the part of my mind that makes my mouth move. Now, should you imagine God, or Jesus, and start worshipping the image in your mind? Obviously not. God is much more than anything you can imagine.
As a freshman in college, I did not have any friends on campus. I lived on campus, but I was still within 35 miles of my home and continued to go to my home church where I saw all of my home friends. I am also an introverted person who could not approach strangers at all, at that time, and would rather be alone than have to meet new people. I started to get lonely at school. I felt like I was stranded on an island with sharks in the water and snakes on the land. I started spending all of my leisure time with God. I imagined Jesus walking with me between classes. I imagined Jesus sitting with me at lunch. Did this time help me make friends? No. I walked around campus talking to myself; everybody thought I was nuts. But I look back at that time with envy for myself. Jesus was not just a metaphorical friend to me. He was my best friend because I focused my whole mind on my conversations with Him. I can’t wait to start doing it again. I’m married now; I can act as weird as I want.
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