In class this afternoon we focused on four important but often forgotten practices.
Silence.
Conversations.
Prayers.
Nature.
Welcome silence. Exit the volume. Refuse to let the normal loud sounds flood your neurological system. Step away. Be still. Be quiet. Do not let noise be your drug of choice.
Welcome conversations. Intentionally make it a priority to spend time with the right people in the right way for the right reasons to talk about the right things the right way. Do not do life alone.
Welcome prayers. Dialogue with God. Interceding, when we pray for others. Petitioning, when we ask God for things. Standing, bowing, walking, singing, sitting. Praising and thanking and waiting and waiting a little longer. Many ways to pray. Many things to pray about, and for. Let us pray.
Welcome nature. The cool breeze. The long walk. The clouds. The stars. The birds singing. Refused to let the busyness of our normal pace cause us miss the wonder around us.
Silence and conversations and prayers and nature. Let’s consider them our friends. Let’s spend time with them. Let’s not forget them. We need them.
Yes! Love spending time with God in nature!
Love sitting on my porch in the rain spending time with Him!
I need to incorporate spending time outside more often. I get caught up in college life and don’t go for walks like I used to. I need to walk and enjoy spending time in God’s creation.
Silence, conversation, and nature have been the easiest out of the four practices for me. Even after spending over a year here at Emmanuel I still find praying hard. I often don’t understand why because it seems to come so naturally for others while I am still stuttering my words and thoughts. Though conversation is easy it isn’t easy in prayer. I want to have that conversation with God. I feel the most I can do for him and myself is to appreciate the chapels as a way to show my appreciation towards Him.
I need to incorporate spending time outside more often. I get caught up in college life and don’t go for walks like I used to. I need to walk and enjoy spending time in God’s creation.
I feel like most people are afraid of silence, myself included. I always have to have noise going on in the background no matter what I am doing. That is why doing certain things out in nature is so important because I can enjoy the silence while also enjoying nature around me. Conversation and prayer kinda go hand and hand. I find it hard to pray sometimes because I feel like I have to talk to God so formally when I don’t. I can talk to Him like I am having a conversation with a friend because God is also my best friend.
Being a collegiate athlete, it is easy to get caught up in the chaos and noise around us. I like that this blog mentions welcoming the silence, as it can bring peace and stability- a gentle reminder that helps me. I think being intentional about implementing these conversations with friends around us is important as well. Oftentimes, we don’t realize the importance of it and how helpful they can be to our lives.
Especially as a college student, it is so easy to get caught up in the motions and forget to take time for Jesus. We get so used to our busy schedules that we fail to use any free time to pause and experience silence, conversations, nature, and praying. We need to welcome all four into our lives even when we don’t want to and use our time for Jesus.
Conversation, silence, nature, and prayer are great things for us. Being in nature is always calming whether it is day or night, or even sunny or rainy nature is a amazing thing to be in and playing an outdoor sport I’m in nature everyday. Silence is something we all enjoy and is good for us to be able to learn, reset, and reflect on the things we do everyday. Prayer is something that we all need more of in our lives because it is the one way were we can have a conversation with the Lord. And the last one conversation is something we all do because it is what makes us human, we need to communicate with other people to really get anywhere in life so this principle is one I really like.
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Ironic enough that I am sitting outside enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze as I read this post, it is nice to take a step back from our busy lives.
The emphasis on intentional conversations is a powerful reminder of the importance of meaningful connections. I believe that in society we forget how important face to face conversations are.
I need to start reaching out to God more. This Blog really helps me and tells me how I need to speak to god more not because I need to but because I want to
I agree we need to be more conscious in making time to practice these disciplines because it is so easy to get caught up in the busyness and mundane of life instead of enjoying these gifts that God has given us
I really feel as though I need to be spending more time in nature. I feel at peace and calm whenever I am sitting there in silence. It sometimes feels like it refreshes my soul.