Good morning, dear friend.

Are you awake yet? Are you really awake?

Is your energy still in bed? Are you dragging it behind you by a rope?

Or is it pulling you forward to meet your day like a crazed bloodhound?

Have you begun to connect with other people, in your home, in your devices? Has anyone reached out to you yet? Perhaps you still nurture the peaceful isolation that swells with the glory of sunrise, and you allow yourself to fill with warm, grounded energy. I feel it flow through my feet from the earth, making its way to my heart, warming me to myself and the world around me. God, thank You for this blessing.

Maybe you’ve had poor sleep, troubled dreams, an early start or a fractured morning. You wish you could crawl back to bed and just try again tomorrow morning. Your breakfast is unhappy in your stomach and your head moans in protest. The strange thing about mornings such as these is they are often no indication of the coming day – you may feel drained until bedtime, but it’s as likely you soon get a burst of energy and feel right as rain. I wonder what determines the path we follow. Is it a manifestation of our will? Can we “get over” our physical aches and transform our mood? Or is it out of our control – the whim of our environment and our genes, maybe the spiritual world withholding or showering blessings?

…

Energy is an animal inside of us, albeit a trainable one. If let run wild, it can lead us nowhere we wish to go, even so far as to get us lost for hours in the land of waste.

But, if we spend time guiding our energy, we can train it to listen to our commands. We can set the course with declared intent and then, like the scent-fixed bloodhound, run with it. And we take turns leading the way – sometimes our energies need a nudge to get back on the trail, sometimes we need a tug to remember we’re moving forward. Don’t forget to stop along the way, both to observe where you are in this moment, and to gaze upon your destination. Knowledge of your current whereabouts in relation to where you want to end up is imperative to finding the path. Duh.

But, how do we train our energy, our focus, our faithful hound? How do we remember to get our bearings? The answer is simple, but it’s not always easy.

Meditation.

Meditation in all its forms.

| Prayer with God | Loving-Kindness | Single-focus |

| Walking meditation | Mantra chanting | Breathing exercises |

| Physical exercises | Writing | Your Meditation Style Here |

The simple act of paying attention to what you’re doing, where you are, and what’s happening, without judging what you find, will temper your focus. Actually, it will freely shower you tools to guide your energy, and you’ll be asked nothing but your time and attention in return. You will learn where your energies grow from. You will learn what nurtures them, and you will learn what hampers their development. Functionally, you’ll have more control over them in your life in the real world, and they will serve you more faithfully at unexpected times in unexpected ways.

I see this as a spiritual practice. For me, meditation creates space in my heart and mind for the Creator to expand and breathe His Word into my soul.

Each of us is offered this blessing freely, and we need not even reach out to claim it. We need only create space and time for Him to place in us what He desires.

For it is by grace alone we are saved. Not by our works. So it seems natural that “doing by not doing” (wu wei, a Taoist principle) through meditation is an acceptable way of receiving the Grace of God.

…

I meditate at least once a week on purpose. I find myself in little slices of meditative moments daily, and I actually enjoy those more. It’s like the universe has a Playful element that likes to surprise you in only the best ways and make you laugh. For me, meeting Playful throughout my day keeps me sane and happy. I love to share him with others, and watch them laugh too.

I’d say you should keep a lookout for Playful, but that would do no good.

Be assured, though, he’s keeping a lookout for you.

Shalom.