Mindful

Last summer I read Bill Hybel's book Too Busy not to Pray (2008) and one line has been going through my mind ever since.  He suggested that when you end a prayer, you say, "help us to be mindful of your presence".  It hit me so hard that ever since I read that, when I end a prayer, that's what I say.

BUT, what would happen if I was mindful of God's presence all the time?  What kind of amazing and wonderful things would happen in my life if I remembered that God is with me and around me always?  His spirit dwells within us AND among us.  Psalms 139:7-12 (NIV) says:

"Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence? 
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

If I am truly mindful that there is no where I can go and be away from God's spirit, that would make my walk with Christ so different.  I would love more, I would be more conscious of my words, I would be more deliberate with my actions.  I would remember that God's spirit is not only dwelling within me, but among the places where I am, no matter how far away I feel. 

Romans 8: 38, 39 says, 
 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I cannot be separated from my God.  He is always there, always loving, always pursuing.  Nothing has the power to separate me - except maybe my own mindlessness.  I want to be mindful of the Holy Spirit in my life all the time.  I no longer want to continue following mindless pursuits, forgetting that God is in even those things that I feel have no significance.  I want my pride to find its way out so that the Holy Spirit can fill in all the areas left open.

Mindful, not mindless.  Seeking to change, ready to move, called by name.