Nothing Missing, Nothing Broken
The key word to knowing what God really desires for you is the Hebrew word Shalom. We often see this word translated as “peace” in our English Bibles. But “peace” doesn’t really capture the fullness of Shalom. Shalom is better understood as: “Nothing missing; nothing broken.” Shalom is what God wants for us. But Shalom requires always-on connectivity with God. In the 1600s a man by the name of Brother Lawrence wrote the classic on this kind of connectivity: The Practice of the Presence of God.
Lawrence learned the secret of not compartmentalizing his life. He wrote: “To be constantly aware of God’s presence, it is necessary to form the habit of continually talking to him throughout each day. To think that we must abandon conversation with him in order to deal with the world is erroneous.”
When Paul wrote “Pray without ceasing” in Thessalonians 5, he wasn’t suggesting we stay in closets all day on our knees in prayer. He was talking about this “Practice”, an always on, always-going, continuous conversation with God in the whole of life. As we grow in the practice, this becomes more and more natural. But in the early stages of learning the Practice, this seems difficult. But keep at it; it’s possible and it’s beautiful.
Songwriter John Michael Talbot talked about it this way: When in prayer, if you hear something distracting; begin to look at distractions as points of prayer. Any so-called “distractions” should become part of the Practice. As I was writing this my home was suddenly flooded with neighborhood kids and the incessant sound of the doorbell ringing. Then my three-year-old Joseph walked into the room where I was writing, and said, “Daddy, Bryn’s here. She’s banging on a can in the other room.” I said, “Yes, I can hear that.” Then he said, “Are you working daddy?” And I said yes. He said, “So should I tell Bryn to stop banging?” “Sure.”" All the while God was with me; my distractions became a part of the flow of the Practice of the Presence.
So let me apply this to a common scenario in my home. I hear my kids fighting in the other room. Instead of logging off with God, taking care of the situation, and then logging back on, I walk with God into to the room where the argument is occurring. God is with me in the stillness; God is with me in the noise. So when I go into the other room to deal with my fighting kids, sensing that God is with me, it changes the way I deal with my fighting kids. If I’m not practicing the presence of God, I simply become yet another contender in the fight. But when I’m aware that God is with me, I become an agent of Shalom, to bring “nothing missing, nothing broken” into my home.
Can you look back and remember times of Shalom? What was at work? Can you think of any present or future opportunities to experience Shalom, and more, to become an agent of Shalom?
Mark