Rick Hamlin - Even Silence Is Praise: Quiet Your Mind and Awaken Your Soul with Christian Meditation

Even Silence Is Praise

2022 Rick Hamlin

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ISBN 978-0-7852-4459-2 (audiobook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-4447-9 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-4443-1 (TP)

Epub Edition December 2021 9780785244479

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021947921

Printed in the United States of America

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To my beloveds, known and unknown, whom I have prayed for and who have prayed for me.

W hat kind of author starts a book with a bunch of apologies? Im really no expert on prayereven though Ive written several books and countless articles on the subject. I really struggle in my practice of getting silent with Godeven though I do it religiously day after day. I leap at the idea of meditation like a dog playing catchand would be hard-pressed to tell you exactly when Ive caught the ball in midair.

I would be foolish enough to say maybe thats you too. We seek the peace that passes understanding. We long to feel the unconditional love that knows no bounds. We struggle to find a habit that makes that possible. And like the apostles and preachers over the centuries, not to mention your third-grade Sunday school teacher, we end up calling on Gods mercy again and again.

You know what? Thats all for the good. This is a book for beginners, amateurs, like us. Is the topic of this book prayer or is it meditation? Truth to tell, Im writing about both. There is a great deal of very convincing scientific research about meditation and its profound psychological and physical benefits. The studies are exhaustive and to be taken very seriously. But for me, as a practicing Christian, I cant separate meditation from prayer. Meditation is an essential part of my prayer practice. And practice, indeed, is the operative word.

At a dinner with some dear friends, two of them started talking about how they had tried meditation. Theyd taken an online course and had read a book. One was a churchgoer; the other was not. One had had a very scary bout with cancer and was still not out of the woods. Good for him, I thought. God knows the meditation surely must help. But they both confessed they werent very good at it. They tried it but found it almost too challenging.

Of course its hard, I wanted to say. Thats why we do it. The silence can be deafening. Thats why I keep listening to it. Sometimes the connection seems goodI can feel myself rising on that updraft of the Spirit. Other days I think Im terrible. My mind casts too many shadows, my overthinking brain working overtime. And yet thats exactly why I do it. Dont judge yourself. I dont think Jesus does. Its the publican who stands far off from the temple, looking down, praying with that same sense of failure, Lord, have mercy, whom Jesus calls out. Not the Pharisee who brags about how great he is. Dont ever feel bad about feeling that youre less than perfect. There can be holiness in that state of humility.

Not long ago I was running up to the park in my busy city neighborhood when I passed a lamppost with an eight-by-ten piece of paper taped to it. I couldnt read it as I passednot as I was jogging bybut I did notice the word FBI. All at once my head went into worry mode, my mind joggled into uncertainty. There must have been some terrible crime committed in the neighborhood that I dont know about, I thought. Theyre trying to keep it secret from us, but its so awful the FBI has come in to do an investigation.

A mob killing, an attack on the subway, an espionage ring exposed, drug trafficking, human trafficking, an illegal gambling bustI kept imagining countless horrible scenarios. Why else would the FBI be there?

A few days later I was on the same route, doing the morning jog (mind you, I go slowreally slowespecially on those hills), when I saw a wide trailer with multiple doors, electrical cords snaking down the sidewalk, a truck unloading large lights, a caterer cooking breakfast. FBI? They were shooting an episode of the TV series that goes by that name.

Dont blame me for an overactive imagination. I would say thats one of Gods giftsfor all of us. Imagining something that might happen is a way we prepare ourselves, get ready, do the wise thing. My wife likes to say that if she worries about a thing happening, then its more likely not to happen. I tease her by calling it the Prophylactic Power of Worry. Of course, she was put to the test one year when she gave up worry for Lent and both of our then-college-age sons decided to do a spring break trip to Mexico just when the news was full of horror stories about gang violence south of the border.