June 11
When Nothing Happens
We sit quietly for a few minutes and nothing remarkable occurs. There is traffic outside, a list of errands in our head, and an itch we cannot ignore. If we expected meditation to deliver a useful message, this can feel like wasted time. Other people seem to describe a peace we cannot produce on demand.
Conscious contact need not announce itself through an unusual feeling. The effort to sit honestly before God may have value before we can describe its result. We notice our hurry, return our attention, and begin again. Perhaps the day will reveal a little more restraint or a slightly less frantic approach to a problem. Perhaps it will remain an ordinary difficult day. We do not have to grade a period of quiet by what it yielded immediately. A relationship is allowed to include time together without a memorable conversation or a clear answer to take away.
What expectations make an ordinary period of quiet seem unsuccessful?
The quiet does not owe me a revelation.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Eleven.