Repetition Prayer in the Natural World

By Kenton W. Smith, D.Min., DASD

Sitting still and doing nothing is a prayer practice of doing the same thing over and over as a path of prayer. Repetition prayer may evoke recollection of prior experience re-entering and savoring what is still alive or has been or might become. Many days nothing is noticed, other days there may be a subtle sense of arousal or gentle tease like a tug on the imagination or emotions that materialize in a few words.

In the context of sitting still and doing nothing day after day in silent and slow gazing at the natural world of my garden and wild landscape, the emotional energy of gratitude arrived as a stimulated moment of felt connection between the living world around me and life within in me. The material world and consciousness met in an inexplicable spiritual awakening that prompted an affection that felt like communion with an other. George MacLeod taught, “We should look for God not away from the material world in some spiritual realm but rather more deeply in the life of the world.”

Suggested practice:
Sit still and do nothing in the natural world.
Repeat often.
Wait.
Savor the silence and the scene before you with a long loving look at the real.
​Allow the soft energy of the moment to arrive on its own to unveil your experience and what the divine might be showing you.

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