Hello,
Friends.
Welcome to the 29th episode of Christian Meditation with Anita Mathias.
I am Anita Mathias,
A writer,
Memoirist,
And Christian meditation teacher living in Oxford,
England.
I'm glad you're here.
It is time to detach from the world,
To retreat into the inner sanctuary of our souls,
And to begin to breathe deeply,
Quiet in the presence of God,
Who is here,
Who loves us.
And in this quiet,
Radiant presence,
We are fully known,
Fully accepted,
And yet He continually,
Deeply challenges us.
Close your eyes,
Sit straight,
Head over heart,
Heart over pelvis,
And begin to breathe.
A deep breath in,
And out.
Breathe in deeply,
Breathe out fully.
And again.
Gradually,
Our heart rate,
Pulse,
And breath will slow down.
And,
Since all our physical systems are connected,
Our mind and emotions will begin to return to stillness.
Our whirling thoughts will settle down,
Like the last flakes in a shaken snow globe.
And our spirits will now begin to attune themselves to the silent,
Invisible presence of Christ,
Who is always present in all the rooms of our lives,
Whether we are aware of Him or not.
So let's continue breathing,
Deep and slow.
As you relax,
Ask for the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
Of wise counsel and of power,
Of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord,
To alight on you,
To gently flow through you,
Because,
Oh,
How we need Him.
May the love of God touch us and flow through us.
Send your breath down through your chest,
Your shoulders,
Down to your abdomen,
Through your hips,
Down to your toes.
Tense them,
Wriggle them,
Relax.
Try another couple of whole-body inhales and exhales,
From your nose through to your toes.
The most ancient breath prayer in the Christian tradition is the Jesus prayer.
Try saying it whenever you feel distracted and unfocused,
Or sense stress rise,
Or feel the need for Christ and His mercy.
Inhale and exhale on each claws.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Have mercy on me.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Have mercy on me.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Have mercy on me.
It was the cry of the blind beggar,
Bartimaeus,
In the Gospel of Mark.
And that was all he cried out in a loud voice.
Jesus,
Son of David,
Have mercy on me.
A simple acknowledgement of Christ's majesty,
A simple expression of faith,
A simple cry for mercy,
And he received His sight.
It is a powerful prayer,
This humble prayer.
It is a prayer that touches Christ's heart,
This prayer for mercy.
We are beings made by God,
Wonderfully made,
The psalmist said.
God lavishes an abundance of gifts on us,
Including His great general gifts.
In His joyous canticle of the Son,
St.
Francis of Assisi thanks God for all the wonders we take for granted when we live with unthankful hearts.
Francis thanks God for the warmth and goldenness of the sun,
The glowing moon,
The stars silent and bright,
The excitements of wind and weather and fire,
For the good earth,
Its fruit and flowers,
And also for all the people in our lives whose care for us has kept us alive,
Has made us who we are,
And has helped us come to this moment.
And of course,
We are all given unique,
Specific gifts.
Gratitude for what God has given us is a mood-changing superpower.
But we,
Loved by God,
Gifted by God,
Are also all in desperate need of God's mercy,
For,
As Jesus observes,
All our efforts cannot add one guaranteed day to our lives or a definite inch to our height.
Our life is in His hands.
Everything we have received is a gift from His goodness,
And we come before Him asking for His grace and strength to use it well.
Jesus has a famous story about our gifts and talents in the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew,
The parable of the talents.
Again,
The kingdom of God will be like a man going on a journey,
Who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
To one he gave five bags of gold,
To another two bags,
And to another one bag,
Each according to his ability.
Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.
So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more.
But the man who had received one bag went off,
Dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
After a long time,
The master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five.
Master,
He said,
You entrusted me with five bags of gold.
See,
I have gained five more.
His master replied,
Well done,
Good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with a few things.
I will put you in charge of many things.
Come and share your master's happiness.
The man with two bags of gold also came.
Master,
He said,
You entrusted me with two bags of gold.
See,
I have gained two more.
His master replied,
Well done,
Good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with a few things.
I will put you in charge of many things.
Come and share your master's happiness.
Then the man who had received one bag of gold came.
Master,
He said,
I knew that you are a hard man,
Harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground.
See,
Here is what belongs to you.
His master replied,
You wicked,
Lazy servant.
So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.
Well then,
You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers,
So that when I returned,
I would have received it back with interest.
So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.
For whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance.
But whoever does not have,
Even what they do have will be taken from them and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness,
Where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And here is my brief meditation on this parable.
Using God's gift of our talents,
A pathway to joy and abundance.
Jesus,
In his parable of the talents,
Vividly illustrates how human life and God's kingdom work.
Our life is a story we co-write with God,
Who hands us plot outlines.
Geography,
Gender,
Genetics,
Socio-economic position,
Creativity,
Health,
Personality,
Temperament,
As well as our unique innate gifts.
And God,
Considering our abilities,
Assigns us varying niches in his ecosystem,
Prominent vocations or quieter ones.
But God is kind to all,
Lavishing on us life itself,
Nature,
Birds,
Sunshine,
Sleep,
The joy of movement,
As well as human kindness and individual gifts.
We each have 600 to 700 talents.
The writer Rick Warren cites research,
Most of which we never use.
Our vocations are a test,
And our happiness and biography pivot on how we use our gifts.
Those who rarely squander time but invest in their talents lead ever bigger lives.
Their gifting and influence expands exponentially.
They spot and mine hidden opportunities and experience relative success financially too.
An always interesting life,
And the exhilaration of achieving their goals with good work which blesses many.
Some,
Though,
Do not nurture their talents,
Feeling resentful and defeated as they side-eye those with five times their assets of family,
Education,
Charisma,
Connections,
Capital,
Time,
Energy,
Intelligence,
Good looks or good sense.
Fearing that their work may come to nothing,
They attempt little,
Leading grudging,
Lazy lives.
Their talents,
Unused,
Wither,
Creating a vacuum for the hard-working to shine.
This slothfulness leads to loneliness,
Sadness and judgment,
While the gifts of the diligent multiply.
To savour the excitement of living,
We need eyes bright with bounce-out-of-bed purpose.
And the gift of purpose has been given to us.
To focus our lives on excellent work with our talents,
Great or small.
This delivers us from wasting our precious lives on triviality.
It rescues us from a black hole of addictions to success,
Money,
Fame,
Food or phones.
Using our talents well is the pathway to happiness and abundance.
And on any day,
During any decade of our lives,
We can start revising them and rewrite a beautiful new story.
And though we may be well,
Well behind those who have steadfastly used their abilities,
If we now assess what we can do with our current strength and energy,
Which changes as we do,
And then nourish our neglected gifts.
Starting with those which most make our hearts sing.
Those talents will blossom,
Filling the rest of our lives with aliveness,
New interests and new opportunities to be a blessing to this world which God so loves.
And in God's kindness,
Our five loaves may yet feed 5,
000.
May it be so.
Amen.
