Devotion begins at home, inside your own awareness.


In the second place, a covenant home is a home that has theWord of God at its centre. Now I want to speak about the importanceof family devotions. Family devotions have fallen on hardtimes. Partly the reason is that everyone is so frantically busy thatno one has any time for devotions. The father goes to work early.The children stagger out of bed an hour or two later, run aboutgetting their clothes on and books together, packed away in theirbackpacks so they can dash off for school, perhaps grabbing apiece of toast as they make their way out of the door. The samething was true in the evening.
               
I'll be honest. I'm not the best dater in the world. But for me, it starts at awareness. That's always the beginning of everything. Trying to be aware of everything as much as possible, what's happening inside you, what feels honest and what feels forced, observing how people respond and cope and why, and if that works for you and what you feel you want, need, deserve, and learning, adjusting, and growing. But more importantly, trusting that it will all play out so not worrying so much about the outcome but rather making an effort to be present and sensitive to people's feelings as well as your own. And if you fuck up, taking ownership. 

Imagine having a room in your home that heals your mind, body and soul? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a special room inside (or outside) of your home that’s devoted to peace, tranquility and your emotional well-being? A room that allows you to escape the daily stresses of life and connect with a higher power? A meditation room will give you a place to do exactly this. 

Mickey, be careful of finding confidence in your own devotion, in you own loyalty, or in your own unwavering love of Christ. Like Peter, placing confidence in your own devotion or faith is a fickle thing! For Peter, it was not his great faith, but Christ’s faithfulness, not his undying loyalty to Jesus, but Jesus’ faithful love toward Peter that resorted and sustained him. 
          
In the beginning as I developed my weekly Devotional practice, I spent a good half hour at each Shrine in my home. But as one friend and my boyfriend pointed out, the Powers That Be know what they've done so all the accolades are not necessary. Simply be in the moment with true intent and five minutes of devotion can be as powerful as one hour. 

The preachers at home should give lessons on devotion, knowledge, Yoga, and work by turns; for this, the days and hours should be fixed, and the routine hung up at the door of the class-room. That is to say, a seeker after devotion may not present himself on the day fixed for knowledge and feel wounded thereby; and so on. None of you are fit for the Vâmâchâra form of practice. Therefore this should on no account be practised at the Math. Anyone demurring to this must step out of this Order. This form of practice must never even be mentioned in the Math. 

In the beginning as I developed my weekly Devotional practice, I spent a good half hour at each Shrine in my home. But as one friend and my boyfriend pointed out, the Powers That Be know what they've done so all the accolades are not necessary. Simply be in the moment with true intent and five minutes of devotion can be as powerful as one hour.

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