Mindful

I was listening to a podcast last week about Mindfulness. The guest speaker was arguing that to minimize stress we need to address where we have our attention rather than our thinking. Now, for a girl who's big into the power of thinking about thinking, that caught my attention!

He suggested that our stress can be relieved by being fully present, with every sense, in every moment. After all, this present breath is the only one we have.

Imagine, being totally present in every moment, paying full attention so we miss nathing (as the Northern Irish would say). Every sense, fully engaged, taking it all in. I started to wonder, how much more would we hear from God if we lived like that? How much more of humanity would we marvel at? How much more would we know about ourselves?

The day after hearing the podcast I got my daily scripture text from a pastor friend in Florida. It was Psalm 8v4 - "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Now there's a revelation!

The Lord is 'mindful' of us.

It's not that God's over there somewhere and we need to catch His eye; rather His full attention is on us. With every sense He is fully present in every moment, with our every breath. He misses nothing. He is not distracted or tired, apathetic or stressed.

It also means He's not just looking out for us, keeping a wee eye on us. Rather He is 100% rooting for us, paying attention to each uttered cry and plea, each thankful shout and joyful smile.

Be mindful this week and know that you are minded!!