Wednesday 25th February
Mindfulness

Matthew 6:34
Do not be anxious about tomorrow,
tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

“The next time you are caught in a traffic jam, don’t fight. It’s useless to fight.
Sit back and smile; a smile of compassion and loving kindness.
Enjoy the present moment.
This moment will never come again, be happy and relax”
– Thich Nhat Hanh

The same is true for a queue in the supermarket,
or waiting for a bus, or sitting in a doctor’s surgery.
This moment will never come again, live it and enjoy it.
…………………………………………….
Mindfulness seems to be the in word at the moment,
you will find a whole library of books about mindfulness out there, some better than others.
Courses on mindful living are springing up everywhere; so what is mindfulness all about?
The Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, sums it up best for me:
“When you wash dishes”, he says, “wash dishes.” In other words, be in the moment.
We usually wash dishes in order to get the job out of the way
and get on with the next thing, or something else we would rather be doing.
Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that it is foolish to sacrifice one moment just to get to the next,
just live each moment as it comes along.
Washing dishes can be a deeply rewarding task if we allow it to be,
but we need to give it our mindful attention.
The 17th Century French Christian monk, Brother Lawrence said exactly the same thing,
but he called it: Practicing the Presence of God.
Whatever you are doing, he said, do it mindful that God is doing it with you.
Every moment, every task, be it enjoyable, mundane or difficult,
is spent in God’s Presence, so why would we not want to be there doing that task?
So today, while we are washing dishes, doing the ironing, digging the garden,
Waiting for a bus, or standing in a supermarket queue; let’s just be in the moment
and remind ourselves that it is a holy moment filled with the presence of God.