Meditation | Pt. 3

MEDITATION

This will be my third and final practice of the spiritual discipline of meditation. It's been an interesting journey so far to say the least and I am excited to be taking part in these things. I've come to the conclusion that there is a fine line to be drawn when it comes to meditation. Things like the "lotus" position and the like come from Zen Buddhist practices. While there may be some "good things" in other religions practices those "good things" stem from truth and have been distorted. The only source of anything good and true is Jesus Christ. All truth comes from Him. He is truth (John 14:6)

Todays meditation comes in the form of focusing on an aspect of creation to reveal something about the nature of the Creator. I will specifically be focusing on the fish in my fish tank. I have some Fruit Salad Tetras: (2 - Blueberry & Pineapple); a Rainbow Tailed Guppy (Cobra); and a Suckerfish (OS X Leopard).

Any aspect of creation will do. "Choose something in the created order: tree, plant, bird, leaf, cloud", you get the point. I'll only be doing this meditation for today, however Richard Foster recommends exercising this meditation for about 5-10 minutes a day for a few days and in addition to one of the first two meditations I've already blogged about in my previous 2 posts.

This meditation begins much like the others with focusing on breathing by slowly inhaling and exhaling. After arriving at a state of openness and calm ask God to fill your mind with truths about Him from His creation. Focus in on the one aspect of creation you have chosen. What thoughts does it bring to mind about God? Spend some time meditating on those things. End this meditation with a time of praise and thanksgiving to God for what He has revealed to you and for what He has still to reveal.

THE EXPERIENCE

I began this meditation sitting down in a chair at my kitchen/dining room table, closed my eyes, and slowly began to inhale and exhale focusing myself on hearing from God. I opened my eyes and just watched my fish for a while. The first thing that came to my attention was Cobra. Being a Rainbow Tailed Guppy means you come with a really bright tail. He's by far the most colorful and fidgety of all the fish in my tank and the patterns on his tail are simply beautiful. I began thinking about how amazing of an artist God is to create just this one fish to be so breath taking. Then I thought about how Cobra is just one of probably millions or billions of guppies and there must be more like him and some maybe even more intricately patterned as well.

The Fruit Salad Tetras in my tank are quite different from Cobra as are they all different from the OS X Leopard AKA Sucker Fish. They each have unique characteristics and qualities about them that make them pleasing to watch and marvel at.

I pondered this idea of God being a unique and creative artist and different races and faces started flying through my imagination. There are so many people in this world. Each one unique in his or her own way. Each one beautiful and created by a Creator who loves them and longs to know them personally as Savior and Lord. Every person on the planet has something about them, a characteristic or quality that makes them pleasing for God to watch and marvel at.

God marvels at me.

He created me and shaped me and molded me to who I am.

He is continually feeding me and molding me into who I will become.

There's a line in the song Our God Reigns by the band Delirious? in which singer Martin Smith croons

"God didn't screw up when He made you. He's a Father who loves to parade you."

It's so comforting to know that God created me how I am for His purpose and His pleasure.

Huh. Who would've thought all this from fish.