I know from my own life that the world just moves faster than it used to. Long gone are the days of waiting days or weeks for news or mail. Long gone are the days when people can just take off for days at a time and go meditate in the wilderness. Heck, I have a hard enough time “meditating” on a few verses in the morning for even ten minutes. And don’t even get me started on my prayer life. However, these things go hand in hand. Together, they constitute how we breathe spiritually. Without them, we’re just holding our breaths, turning purple. But what do we do?

Why prayer and meditation?

If God is life, then what are we doing to take part in that? Prayer, meditation are the two best ways of immersing ourselves in the presence and being of God. I mean, how else are we going to get in touch with Him? Last time I checked, He doesn’t have iMessage…But, I digress. Praying, honestly and humbly bringing ourselves before God in prayer, is how we reconnect with Him and experience Him throughout the day. Meditation is how we take that relationship a step further. Meditation is where God becomes intimate and we shed the mental shroud that hides His personable nature.

Prayer as breathing

What could prayer have in common with breathing? We’re supposed to do both just as often! OK, all hokeyness aside, prayer helps us to exhale the lies and the doubts we’re struggling with at the moment. Prayer also helps us breathe in the truths and assurances God gives us in response. The waste, the carbon dioxide, we give to a God who waits for it with open arms. The fresh air is His love. And we need both of these for a healthy soul.

Meditation: the extension of prayer

Meditation, in the breathing analogy, is the deep breath we need from time to time. Meditation is the long, slow, deliberate breath of God’s truth. Meditation allows us to marinate in an aspect of God’s love, His being, and let it sink deeper than prayer alone allows. Meditation forces us to linger in God’s presence, enabling a deeper, more intimate, and truer understanding of Him. Isn’t that scary?

I’ve explained prayer and meditation, but now comes the crux of this post. How do we bring it about more in our lives? I see why these are desirable in my life, but how do I make it happen? How do I truly have a living and breathing faith? This is what I’ll be spending the next few days contemplating. Right now, I don’t have an answer for you. I merely have a desire. And maybe that is the answer to prayer and meditation. What do you think? Is this kind of faith even something you feel you’re lacking right now?