Something that has puzzled me for a long time is the passage in Matthew 13 where Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6: “You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn–and I would heal them.”  How can I look and not see? 

The answer came to me in one of those Holy Spirit-sent blinding flashes when I was reading the June 2007 Oprah Magazine on page 202. Oprah was sharing about the spa vacation she, her friend Gayle King, and 60 women took at the Miravel Spa. One of the classes was on meditation, taught by Jon Kabat-Zinn. In his talk, he gave people encouragement on being mindful and aware by putting a new spin on the old post card cliche: Having a great time. Wish I were here!  He then went on to discuss how we are so often not present in the moment and gave the example of being physically in the shower but mentally in your first appointment for the day.

And that is when it hit me: the passage Jesus quotes above tells of a time when people will be so busy that in constantly multi-tasking and thinking through the next task they have to do, they will miss being where they currently are. They will miss the flowers on the hike, they will miss hearing their children or friends’ real message behind the words, they will miss their vacation because they are so busy video-taping it. Jon Kabat-Zinn talkes about “throw[ing] out the word meditating” and using the word awarenessing.

When I think about Christian meditation, how we are called not to empty our mind but to fill it completely with God, God’s word and presence, I think the word ”awarenessing” is a very accurate description. Because as Christians, we are to go from our times of intense focus on God (i.e. meditating) into the real world and we are to become more aware of God and God’s working in the world from those times of intense focus on and listening to God’s voice. We are to be more fully present in each moment, seeking to be God’s agent for good in that moment, fully present and not three meetings down the road of where we are right now.

Sometimes I wonder why I have not been healed in certain areas of my life. Maybe it is because God can’t heal me because I am not present to enough to hear his voice of healing (as implied by the passage above). Maybe I am always doing one task but thinking about another such that I can’t access the good God wants to give me right now in this moment in this task. Maybe, as a Christian, if I can learn “awarenessing,” I will be a better witness to the Kingdom of God than if I am always running around “doing the Lord’s business” and working myself into exhaustion. Maybe by being really present to nature on my walk this morning, I can be a healing voice to someone else today.