Meditation: Soul Enriching

One of my favorite lines from Thomas More's "A Godly Meditation" is - "To be content to be solitary."

That's powerful.

This post I thought I would share with you one of the things I am doing to "Enrich my Soul" on Sunday.

Meditation is one of my absolute favorite ways to gain focus. It takes so much to get me to stop my brain long enough to find some sort of inner peace (a common theme in my journey.)

I recently was reading some of More's writings. I like this guy! Aside from his "family expectations" to be successful in law and  government - More was quite the humanist! (I like to consider myself a humanist!)
He was also a good friend of Eramus, and a prominent literary figure. You might be familiar with his work called "Utopia."

What I also admire about More is that he was quite spiritual. He had a wonderful devotion to religious life, while maintaining an excellent sense of humor. It is said that even at the height of his career, he would always set aside one day a week for meditation and prayer. HELLO? I am doing the same thing!! And that, my friends.. is today. Sunday - my Soul Enriching Day.

Another thing I have to tell you about More (before I get into his meditation) is his strong integrity (w/o losing his swagger!) Apparently Henry VIII appointed him to be his royal counselor. However, when Henry wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon, More told him, after careful study, that he could not support his case. (Love it. He at least saw all sides and then reported back.) He also refused to support Henry when he appointed himself the head of the church. In turn, Henry (the spoiled brat) had More put in prison, later to be executed. They say that when he went to his execution, he went with great composure and was even found joking with his executioner. I like this guy!

Back to his meditation - "A Godly Meditation." Love it! (Please click on the link if you would like to see the entire thing.)

I thought I would share some of my favorite lines that I hope to take with me into the week and use for more "meditation."

- To be content to be solitary
- Gladly to be thinking of God
- To continually have in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me
- To buy the time again that I before have lost.

How cool is that? Two are very general and can apply to everyone. The two in the middle may only speak to a few of you. Whatever - it's all good!

Part of enriching my soul - I want to learn to be content in my own solitude. I want to be happy to think of God. I want to remember that someone cared so much as to suffer FOR me. I always want to learn to buy back all of that time I lost worrying, creating my own drama and just doing mindless stuff.

It's a good thing to consider.

There is a specific bible selection you might be able to check out to go even further with this. It's Jeremiah 15:5 - 10.

Some of the take aways I get are:
- Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
- I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to the fruit of their doings.

What I see is for (me) I have to remember - If I trust - I will be blessed.
If I take time to meditate and concentrate on what is important - it is known. All good things will follow.

In the end - I think my big take away to meditate on is clear - LOVE. Love my enemies. Love my friends. Love my life. Love your right to your life. Love God most of all.

Got it - if that doesn't enrich the soul, I don't know what will?!

** I think some of you thought I was actually creating daily themes for my blog - actually, that is not true. The "daily" ideas was for my state of mind, and perhaps something in my personal life I could try. On Sunday, since it involved reading, I thought I would share. Hope that makes sense!