Meditation

Growing up in church, I’ve always heard that you need to meditate on Scripture. The problem was that the image my mind conjured up when the word meditation was mentioned was of someone sitting very still on a pillow with their eyes closed, fingers pinched together, arms partially extended, and legs crossed with a continual humming sound being issued from their vocal cords. Now, I knew that’s not what meditating on Scripture was, but it formed the basis for the way in which I viewed meditation. My interpretation was that meditation involved sitting still and mulling a piece of Scripture over and over in ones mind, kind of like savoring a piece of cake. This is what meditation is at times, but I love the explanation of meditation that a professor recently gave us. Meditation is owning a piece of Scripture. It’s reading it over and over again until you are familiar enough with it that you can either paraphrase it or quote it as you go about your day. It’s applying that Scripture to your life in a very real way, and it’s allowing life to help you better understand the Scripture. Meditation is more than just sitting still. It’s grabbing a hold of a piece of Scripture and getting everything you can out of it. To meditate means to dwell on something. Your mind should be dwelling on Scripture in such a way that it influences every aspect of your life.