Jesus: The Ultimate Mindfulness Advocate

Our lives are bursting at the seams with stress. It seeps through the gaps and leaks into all the areas of our lives. Our jobs, our home lives, our relationships and our health. It spills onto our spiritual lives, dousing our fire and clogging our peace.

Mindfulness is a highly recommended method of managing our stress levels. It’s been researched and championed widely by therapeutic practitioners and mental health services, and for good reason. It’s healthy and necessary to still our minds, to focus on the moment and try to be as fully present as we can be.

The fact that Jesus is a mindfulness fan makes me love him all the more. As Jesus is fully human and fully God, he knows how our brains work and he knows how it feels to have one. He’s experienced the same emotions and come up against many of the same stresses that we have. He practiced mindfulness and advocated for it.

Mindfulness says; Focus on this present moment. Try not to allow your mind to race ahead and worry about things that haven’t happened yet.

Jesus says, Do not worry about tomorrow, for each day has enough trouble of its own. Who can add a single hour to his life by worrying?

Mindfulness says, Take in all that’s around you. Focus on your breath. What can you hear, smell and see?

Jesus says, Consider the lilies of the field, consider the birds of the air and the grass. He’s talking about God’s provision, but I also believe he knows how good it is for us to focus in on the small things for a while.

Our lives are tiring. These same passages of scripture talk about how the flowers and birds don’t need to ‘toil and spin’ for God to feed and clothe them. We already know that we do have to toil and spin. We have to work, shop, cook and prepare in order to eat. I don’t think Jesus was downplaying this fact, but he might be reminding us about the importance of perspective. He’s reminding us we are more than what we eat and more than what we wear; that we are children of God. That our health is more important than which brand of cereal we eat and our wellbeing is more important than whether our clothes are from Primark or Zara.

Perhaps he was also advocating for rest when he talked about spinning and toiling. Several times in the four gospels we see Jesus retreating from the crowds after a day of ministry. He knows we need time alone to just ‘be.’ To be mindful and to be with God.

This isn’t easy for many of us right now. As we make our way through another lockdown, lots of us are working from home, supervising home schooling and trying to keep our heads above water. Where are we supposed to ‘retreat’ to? Jesus knows what that feels like too. So often when he tried to have time alone, the crowds or his disciples followed him, making demands on his time. He gets it, he really does.

So let’s think of some small ways we can practice mindfulness like Jesus did within the constraints of our current lives. We can take a short bible verse and focus just on those words as we close our eyes for one minute before we open our laptops and begin our working day. When we walk our dogs/children/selves, we can be intentional about noticing the blades of grass, the blue of the sky, the birds in the trees and give thanks for them. And when we submerge ourselves in the bath after a family tiff or a heated debate on Twitter, we can enjoy the feel of the water, the smell of our bath bombs and the knowledge that God loves us, just as we are.

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it.” Sharon Saltzberg

“Therefore I tell you, so not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do no sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? …So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25–34

“Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life. Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”

“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.” Luke 12 v 22–27