Sitting With God

A Journey to Your True Self Through Centering Prayer — A Book Review

If you are interested in reading a good, heart-felt introduction to the daily practice of silent, centering or contemplative prayer and the benefits thereof, this is a good place to start.

There are many books on this subject written by “monks and cloistered folk,” writes Amos Smith, a fellow Christian mystic in the Introduction, but author Rich Lewis shares his thoughts and experiences in a down-to-earth-people language, as a middle class working family man who has incorporated this practice into his daily life over the last seven years.

Rich begins his explanation of the somewhat intimidating practice of silent meditation with a simple invitation for readers to start with just one-minute of silence. Which, for most people sounds doable.

“I sit in silence to enter a journey that God and I travel together,” writes Lewis. Gradually his practice increased to 3-minutes, then 5-minutes, and ultimately to 20-minutes twice a day.

I like that Rich offers his practice as a recommendation, not a requirement. By the end of the book readers will become well versed in how this practice has transformed his personal, family, work and spiritual life.

“As our bodies need rest, our minds need solitude and stillness…It is a…