Lately I've been treating meditation and prayer separately. They can be one and the same depending on what works for you. I know many people who meditate on scripture or affix a vision or situation of Christ in their mind and focus on that. What I do is a little bit different. I practice Vipassana style meditation when I sit. Vipassana is all about cultivating mindfulness. By being mindful of thoughts, feelings and sensations in both body and mind, one can begin to better control your actions in everyday life. The Buddhist teach that mindfulness meditation puts a magnifying glass on our feelings of guilt, lust, greed, envy, sadness, happiness, confusion, everything we experience as a human and shows us the truth behind those feelings. Again I use this practice but totally believe it's God and Jesus showing me and teaching me when I'm quiet how to live a better, more joyous life. I wrote before about being open to using teachings and meditation techniques from eastern cultures even though I remain faithful to the Christian belief system. I totally believe Christ came as a mortal to teach and liberate us and using a Buddhist style meditation helps me to get closer to that idea and learn at a deeper level what Jesus was trying to convey to us.

Typically once I've completed my mindfulness meditation and while I'm still quiet and focused I'll turn my attention to things I want to say to God and ask for. By that time I'm at such a relaxed, quiet and focused state that it seems I've got a direct communication path open to God. Ideas, thoughts, intentions seem to flow effortlessly from my consciousness and/or sub-consciousness and I know I'm having a direct conversation with God. It's not like the old days before I started getting quiet in my prayer time. Back then I would pray at God. It was like a one way conversation. Like I was putting in an order at a drive-thru McDonald's to a high school kid asleep at the other end. I know God was listening just the same but it wasn't fulfilling me and I always felt something was missing. Through my quiet praying it's not just a two-way conversation it's a ONE conversation because it's like I'm one with God. It's not like I'm even saying words to God - it's more like I'm thinking and God instantaneously says, "Yes, I understand'. Its like I'm having a wordless conversation with Myself but Myself is all knowing and already has the answer waiting. Weird. Weird I tell you but that's the way of God, mysterious, satisfying, all knowing and total truth in what is.