Divine Mindfulness

UV 1746/10000 Purposeful Divine Mindfulness
The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.
Psalm 115 v 12

Today, mindfulness is taught and practiced as part of the New Age movement. But mere mindfulness is vain like all of human pursuits unless we are mindful of the Lord, His presence, His praise, His Word, His glory, His beauty, His goodness, His grace. Since we are in a covenant relationship with the Lord as a wife with her husband, the mindfulness is mutual. Even as the Lord is mindful of us, we too need to be mindful of the Lord. He is mindful of our prayers, of our needs and desires, of our thoughts and feelings. Similarly, we need to be mindful of the feelings, thoughts and will of the Lord. To be mindful means to be continually aware of whoever or whatever we are being mindful of. To be mindful of the Lord and His Word will give us a glimpse or insight into the very mind of Christ. Paul exhorts us to have the mind of Christ. Christ during His earthly sojourn was mindful of the Father always. He was mindful of the Father’s will. He was mindful of the Father’s greatness, love and compassion. He was mindful of every word spoken from the mouth of God through the prophets of Israel and other men of God. He was mindful of the power of God. He was mindful of the justice of Jehovah. The Father is mindful of us to provide a Saviour from His own being. He is mindful of us to watch over us day and night without slumber. He is mindful of us to know us inside out. He is mindful of us to send us the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide and lead us. We need to practice a similar mindfulness.

When we practice mindfulness of the Lord, He will bless us. His presence accompanies when we are mindful of Him and not when we ignore Him. He will bless us to gain greater strength even in our struggles as Israel meant “struggle with God.” Jacob was first called Israel as he wrestled with the angel of the Lord and released him only when the latter blessed him. Jacob’s life as a fugitive from God, from his own home, from the land of Canaan, of fleeing from the truth ended at that moment. From that moment he was blessed. He was blessed with many children or heirs. He was blessed in material terms with lands and cattle. The angel being much mightier could have knocked Jacob off his feet with one blow. But the Lord does not wrestle with man to defeat us, to frustrate us, to strain us but to train us to be mindful. After such an encounter with the Lord, we will ever remember His mercy, grace and power. Our fickle minds will develop the ability to focus. To be mindful of the Lord is to have our minds saturated with the Word and our hearts soaking in worship and adoration, our thoughts dripping with gratitude, our wills surrendered to do the Lord’s bidding, our lips focussed on His praise, our emotions lifted up in joy in the presence of the Lord. Mindfulness to be purposeful is continual prayer, continual dialogue, continual meditation, continual worship, continual fellowship with the Lord. To be mindful of the infinite love, mercy, power and grace of the Tri-une God is both a privilege and a fountainhead of blessings.

When we are mindful of the Lord, we are blessed like Aaron. We will be a priest in His eyes like Aaron. We will be consecrated for service by the Spirit of the Lord. We will be blessed to be a spokesperson for the Lord on earth. Everything we do will be blessed and bloom and blossom like the almond branch of Aaron. We will be like the olive branch that is always dipped in the oil of the lamp. We will be like the golden lamp whose oil is always full. The Lord will make us fruitful in all we attempt. The Lord will give us the tongue of the learned. To be mindful of the Lord is to be always learning at His feet like Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Every place we go to will be a “Bethel”- the house of God. Divine Mindfulness affects deeply the totality of our being, our experiences, our circumstances, our lives.

Prateep V Philip