Slow-Chewing Mornings - a conversation about Christian meditation

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. How sweet are your words to my taste,  sweeter than honey to my mouth! – Psalm 119:97,103

The other morning as I sleepily made my way to the coffee maker, for whatever reason, something smelled just like my grandparent’s kitchen did when I was growing up.  Instantly I was transported into memories of waking up in their small valley ranch home where the mornings were warm and quiet and the aroma of  instant coffee shared the air with the newly-cut alfalfa next door.  I could picture my grandpa reading the newspaper in the kitchen next to their old formica table, and grandma standing at the stove-top where eggs were usually sizzling. She was always sure to tell my brother and I to fill up our belly and clean our plate.  I loved mornings like that.  They were grace-rhythmed, slow-chewing mornings.

Isn’t it funny how one whiff of the familiar can bring a person right back to something otherwise long forgotten?  As I stood 40+ years later in my own kitchen, I remembered things like the little wooden, pig-shaped plaque that hung above my grandma’s stove with the words, “Pigs is Pigs”.  I remember many laughs around that plaque and how it never came off the wall.  I recalled one of my grandfather’s more common mantras: “Michellie, just remember you don’t have to get clean to take a bath.”  That was his way of reminding us that God’s love was unconditional and we come best when we come to him just as we are. They are words that continue to shape me, even to this day.  That kitchen was a place where we took in some of the nutrients of living. 

I was recently asked why I put such an emphasis on meditative prayer.  My answer will be similar to these memories.  But before I go on, a brief clarification might be helpful.  Christian Meditative Prayer always has as its foundation the Word of God and worship.  It is not a random reaching for nirvana nor is it empty.  Much like the slow-chewing mornings shared in my grandparent’s kitchen, in meditation we sit with God and chew on his word.  We let it be digested for what it is, taking in its nutrients in shared community with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, until we are full.  It is where God’s Living Word mediates his written word.   Things otherwise long-forgotten, are recalled as the Spirit wafts what has, over time and careful thought, been made familiar. His Truth moves from mind to heart as God's love-mantra is remembered in quiet rumination...We are "filled up"... shaped by his word.

While I am genuinely surprised at the concern in our current western church culture around meditation, I understand it.  There are many spiritual cultures seeking to find deeper understandings about gods and humanity.  There are many that claim meditation as one of their primary modes of prayer, but they lack the foundation of the One True God and His written and Living word.   Scripture mentions meditation 20 times, so let’s not relinquish the term, and let's not assume it means the same in every circle.  Incorrect labeling can cause confusion and we will be tempted to reject it altogether.  It will starve the soul just like skipping those meals in my grandparents kitchen would have starved my body.  If we want to get to know God we will spend time slow-chewing with him.  We will read what he has to say, we will look close at each word, we will give it slow-chewing, prayerful time so that it becomes familiar and integrated.  

There is a video recently produced by Pandora Jewelry.  It shows children from the ages of 3-9 years old, blindfolded and guided towards a group of mothers. 

Click here for video

One by one they made their way through the group. Searching expectantly, for what would be familiar to them – hands, hair, face; each eventually found the one they knew as mom.  It was not only powerful, it was beautiful!  Those blindfolded children reminded me of seasons in my life when God seemed to disappear – The times when faith and truth are identified by what has been discovered in past nearness and carried in memory.  That is the gift cultivated through meditation - God becomes familiar.  And it happens as we search expectantly His Word, forging a God-mantra, drawing near, chewing slowly, being nourished.  So that even when all goes dark we are still finding the one we know as God.