Bible.com.au: Reading Plan - Christ-Centred Mindfulness: Still and Breathe

Reflection*

I believe there is nothing better than sitting on a cliff at the beach looking out over the sea. It offers a vantage point where you can take in the entirety of your surroundings and observe the colour and drama of a coastline. You can smell and taste the salt in the sea air. If you close your eyes, you can listen to the rhythmic sound of the waves pounding the sand, and the call of the birds carried by the wind.

After reading today’s Bible passage:

Connect Find a place where you can be still in nature. If you can’t escape the urban environment, take some time to sit in your garden, or go for a walk in a local park.

Notice what you can see. What colours, textures, and shapes are around you? With an attitude of curiosity, really notice the trees, grass, and plants around you. Notice the weather and the sky.

Notice what you can hear. Are there any birds making a noise? Can you hear the wind in the trees? What other sounds can you hear?

Notice what you can taste. If you open your mouth slightly, can you taste anything in the air?

Notice what you can smell. Pick something up and hold it to your nose. What does the object smell like? Can you smell anything else around you?

Notice what you can touch. What temperature is it? What does it feel like when the sun is shining on you and the wind is brushing past you? What can you feel around you, e.g., grass, the ground, the bark on the trees?

Continue to fully connect with the things around you and try to focus on just being open and observing these things. If you start thinking about something, simply notice you are doing this, and bring your focus back to connecting to your surroundings.

Finish your time by reading the entirety of Psalm 104 and praising God.

Prayer

‘Praise the Lord, my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty… I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord. But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the Lord, my soul. Praise the Lord.’ Psalms 104:1,33-35

*In this series, the devotion will be structured a little differently than our usual Daily Bible devotions, as Dr Thompson offers a Bible passage for reflection, and teaches us practical contemplative exercises that can assist with finding peace when everything around us seems difficult and hopeless.

Psalms 104:1-35

Psalm 104

1Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

and rides on the wings of the wind.

4He makes winds his messengers,

flames of fire his servants.

5He set the earth on its foundations;

it can never be moved.

6You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7But at your rebuke the waters fled,

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8they flowed over the mountains,

they went down into the valleys,

to the place you assigned for them.

9You set a boundary they cannot cross;

never again will they cover the earth.

10He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

it flows between the mountains.

11They give water to all the beasts of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12The birds of the sky nest by the waters;

they sing among the branches.

13He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14He makes grass grow for the cattle,

and plants for people to cultivate—

bringing forth food from the earth:

15wine that gladdens human hearts,

oil to make their faces shine,

and bread that sustains their hearts.

16The trees of the Lord are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17There the birds make their nests;

the stork has its home in the junipers.

18The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

19He made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to go down.

20You bring darkness, it becomes night,

and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21The lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

22The sun rises, and they steal away;

they return and lie down in their dens.

23Then people go out to their work,

to their labor until evening.

24How many are your works, Lord!

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25There is the sea, vast and spacious,

teeming with creatures beyond number—

living things both large and small.

26There the ships go to and fro,

and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27All creatures look to you

to give them their food at the proper time.

28When you give it to them,

they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

29When you hide your face,

they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

they die and return to the dust.

30When you send your Spirit,

they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

31May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works—

32he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the Lord.

35But may sinners vanish from the earth

and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.

Christ-Centred Mindfulness: Still and Breathe

Day 9 of 14

NIV

Psalms 104:33-34

Days

Psalms 104:1-35