These wise words dropped into my inbox a few days ago and they struck me as indispensable counsel for our approach to all spiritual practices,

“As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we are almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.  (From: C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 4″)

“As long as you notice … “ How do we move pass spiritual practice being a focus of our activity, to being a lens?

” … you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance.”  Initially our attention may be on the practice and to the details of “doing it right.”  Then, at some time, grace enters and we let go of the details and “enjoy” the dance.  We find our companion, our comforter, (need I say God’s Spirit) has brought us to where God waits for us, renews us, and sends us on.

“… perfect … service … would be one we are almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.”

Take some time and reflect back over the last several days (or weeks) and look for places/times your attention was on God.  Not on the “things of God” but on God.

You may want to ask God to help you glimpse what brings you to that place/time.