Years ago I heard a minister say something startling. He was talking about the uncomfortable times;
times of suffering that all of us face sooner or later. We find ourselves in circumstances or
situations we would rather escape. And
usually we complain or perhaps even whine.
He paused and looked at the gathering of people around him and simply
said, “just bear it.”
One of the greatest gifts I’ve received from the practice of
meditation and silent prayer is the realization that everything has a beginning
and an end. When what is transpiring
between the beginning and the end is uncomfortable, it can be born. We can endure.
One of the first instructions I give when teaching
meditation is that you must use a timer.
When we sit to meditate or pray, it is for a definite time. We set the timer for 20 minutes (or whatever
time you choose) and then begin, confident that at some point the timer will go
off. In the meantime, we sit.
People often say to me, “I’ve tried meditation but I just
can’t do it.” That always puzzles
me. It is usually followed by the
declaration that “my mind just won’t get quiet.” The implication is that if my mind won’t
quiet down, I won’t bear the mental noise.
I will not sit with myself and listen to my chattering brain. I could understand if it meant I was required
to sit there interminably, but that is never the case. I only sit UTTGO—until the timer goes off.
I have been meditating for many years, and yes, my mind has,
with practice, been trained to settle down more often than not. But there are still days when from the moment
the timer starts until it chimes, my mind races. I can bear it because I know it will end—the
timer will eventually chime. Years of
experience have taught me that I cannot judge the efficacy of my meditation by
how I feel during the meditation. Twenty
minutes of a racing mind is every bit as valuable as twenty minutes of
bliss.
The same is true of our daily lives. Times of turmoil are every bit as valuable as
times of equanimity and composure, if we will sit with ourselves in faith. I
now have a much deeper sense that when life feels uncomfortable I can prevail,
I can endure, I can wait patiently (perhaps I should say more patiently) until
the situation ends…until the timer goes off.
