Today I’m floating a question that I’d like all of us to give some serious attention. What do you think about – what occupies your mind – when you are not engaged in a particular task?

When you’re preparing to fall asleep, when you just can’t fall asleep, first thing in the morning when you’re gathering your thoughts, while waking the dog, or exercising, driving, when you sit down in an easy chair with 45 mins of unscheduled time, when you take a lunch break by yourself, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, standing in line at the grocery checkout…? I’m sure you can add many more circumstances to this list.

Or, instead of thinking, do we quickly turn on the television, or a radio show, or a music mix, or play a video game, thereby sidestepping the often intimidating prospect of time alone with our own thoughts?

This was one of the discussions we were having in the Saturday morning men’s group I attend. Because – as the scriptures tell us – “For as [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). In other words, there is a direct relationship between the words, phrases, and ideas – the thought processes – that churn around in our minds and spirits, and what we say, who we are, and what we do.

Hundreds of years ago the word that defined the practice of thinking – contemplation -was also used as a noun to describe a person who devoted a lot of time and energy to contemplation. That person was known as “A Contemplative.”

So we talked about how much that practice is needed in our lives today, about how we tend to keep ourselves so fruitlessly busy while our spiritual lives die on the vine – atrophy for lack of use.

Here’s the thing – and I’ll leave it here because, ironically, I’m busy this morning: When we live out of a contemplative spirit, when we do act, when we do speak, when we do live our faith out loud… then we speak, act, live from a position of power and a posture of spiritual strength.

When we live out of a contemplative spirit, when we do act, when we do speak, when we do live our faith out loud… then we speak, act, live from a position of power and a posture of spiritual strength.

Just something to think about. And I do mean think – DEREK