Holding Still
"All we really need is a direction and a next obvious step"
~ Ray Leonardini
Jill and I were sitting under a big yellow umbrella,
outside a coffee shop in Folsom, California.
It was June. It was hot. Jill had an iced tea. Ray I had coffee.
Jill and I were a couple thousand miles from home,
talking with Ray Leonardini, the chaplain from Folsom Prison.
The same prison made famous by Johnny Cash's live concert in '68.
I connected with Ray after I Jill showed me his website, Prison Contemplative Fellowship. I had been reading books about prayer by Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, and Richard Rohr and was interested in sharing a different way to pray with the men and women in the Brown County Jail. This different way to pray was a silent meditation called Contemplative or Centering Prayer.
This prayer practice was familiar to the early church and often references Jesus's instruction on prayer in Matthew 6:6. We are to go to "our inner room" where we pray "in secret." This can be interpreted as spending time in silence, trust, presence, and focus with a freedom and invitation to quietly sit in Divine presence. It's a beautiful practice I've adopted and have enjoyed sharing with my friends at the BCJ. I connected with Ray and he sent copies of his book, Finding God Within, to share at the jail.
What brought us to Folsom was the Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant, a summer renewal opportunity for teachers. I was one of the fortunate recipients and focused my plan on contemplative study and practice. Meeting Ray was one of the highlights of this summer journey. Ray shared with us that he had been working on a documentary called Holding Still. I recently watched this and plan to share it at our local jail.
Our lives are a series of next obvious steps.
Far too often, we look far ahead.
It is good to have guiding stars, but as Ray reminded us,
we really just need to worry about our next obvious step.
And sometimes, the next step is to simply "hold still."
For a moment of silence.
For a cup of coffee.
For a moment of prayer.
For a glance in the next direction.
For a clearer look at our next obvious step.
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