SENTINEL WATCH April 16, 2007 Issue

HOLD ON TO THE MOMENT

RICHARD NENNEMAN

IMAGINE YOU'RE STANDING with friends having a group picture taken. The photographer finally sees you all smiling at the same time and says, "Now hold it a minute." Then you hope he takes it before that perfect image changes.

Now imagine you're praying. Whatever it is, when our prayers have brought us to even a moment of feeling something of the power of God in whatever our present situation may be, that's the "picture" we need to hold on to.

You may pray differently at various times. You may simply reach out and plead for God's help. You may hope to feel the presence of God right where you are. Or you may pray for that Christ-consciousness that knows there is no space between God and any of us—that in our core being we are actually one with God, as His expression. It may seem difficult at first to hold to even a single perfect image of thought that prayer reveals. But it's even more difficult if you lose that moment of spiritual consciousness and have to regain it.