The Wealthy Gardener: Life Lessons on Prosperity between Father and Son by Soforic John

Author:Soforic, John [Soforic, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

LESSON 4-27

Meditation

Meditation: deep awareness in solitude.

“There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.”

Minnie Aumonier

Meditation is most needed by those lacking time, thought the Wealthy Gardener, for a demanding life requires daily renewal. In the stillness we regain our center and our strength.

For two months Fred had avoided his unfulfilled dream by staying overly busy. And tonight the two old friends were once again playing cards together. The Wealthy Gardener had resolved to stop pressing Fred about his life-long dream. We each choose, or neglect to choose, our own destiny.

“So the new youth pastor,” Fred said candidly, picking up a card, “is teaching our kids about prayer. And at the end of the class, the pastor told them to sit in the presence of God. The kids were dead silent for maybe fifteen minutes. To be honest, it’s difficult for me to sit quietly that long,” he said. “I feel like jumping out of my skin!”

They both laughed as Fred discarded onto the pile.

“I know what you mean,” said the Wealthy Gardener, staring at his cards. “When Mary died, I was a bit screwed up inside. And I used to dread being alone. I had to have noise, motion, always something going on. Stillness was unbearable to me.”

Fred rearranged his cards. “But now you can handle it?”

“I’ll tell you what I learned, Fred,” said the Wealthy Gardener. “The more I hated the silence, the more I needed it. The more I dreaded stillness, the more I needed to stop moving. I was evading my problems by staying in motion and in the noise. I finally took up meditation to regain my peace.”

Fred raised an eyebrow. “I never knew you meditated.”

“I started after Mary’s death. But then I saw how it benefitted me in other ways. Before I practiced meditation, my life was successful,” admitted the Wealthy Gardener, “but I’m more effective with it. I don’t claim to know why, but the days are better after meditation. It does something, and now I welcome the silence. There’s guidance for our actions in the stillness.”

“By sitting still and thinking of nothing?”

The Wealthy Gardener laid a card on the pile. “Your youth pastor may call it sitting in the presence of God, but my personal meditation is not quite the same. I direct my mind, and I sit in the presence of my intentions. At times I also sit in the presence of my frustrations,” he chuckled. “And I can meditate on walks too. For me, it’s a daily practice of gratitude. If nothing else, it gets me in sync with the day.”

“I try to quiet my mind,” Fred said, “and I feel restless as hell.”

“I felt that way too, and that’s when I needed it most. I was a mess inside, but my medicine was meditation. In the silence I confronted my worries, stresses, emotions, and problems. And I can tell you, it wasn’t always fun.”

“No wonder I run from silence,” laughed Fred.

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