The Daily Practice of Imminance

Why do we tend to so naturally separate God from our daily lives and everyday practices?

I'm talking about things like telling someone- I'll pray for you- when we "could" decide to just pray for them right there- silently or audibly. 

I'm talking about taking a walk with headphones pounding music when we could drink in creation.

I'm talking about all the ways in which we separate and fragment our lives, and then miraculously, no- robotically-  incorporate the Lord on Sunday mornings. 

Here's an extreme example- going to a fitness class at a church, only to spend the hour working our bodies to secular, (which nothing wrong with it, by the way) music. It just seems to me a huge missed opportunity to work our minds and actually engage in private and/or even a bit of corporate worship "naturally". 

It could also be applied to the way we withhold parts of our lives from the Lord. We grasp for control and only allow him true sovereignty over certain things, but not others. We think that our prayers have to be well articulated and holy, devoid of doubt and any negative emotions. Anotherwords- "inhuman"...

Imminance is:

the state of being inherent or exclusively existing within something

the theory that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world 

Sometimes when we are struggling with sadness or negativity, we feel alone. 

Imminance is somehow, someway, recognizing that there, in that messy moment, we are in fact, not. 

I think maybe its also bringing the Lord into our world, and our worlds into the church...

I've been dreaming of some ways to build more of a daily practice of Imminance, (and by the way, that act itself  of "dreaming with God" is one of them):

-Worshiping while driving or walking- even altering the words of popular songs to become worship songs 

-Asking for prophetic knowledge, words, images or senses in the moment or immediate midst of a situation

-Spontaneous singing of worship songs or even bits of scripture we know while showering or cleaning our homes. How about praying while cleaning? 

-If you speak in tongues, doing so throughout the day or in moments where emotions are distressing

-I leave space here for more ideas to be added.... I believe the endless possibilities are so incredibly simplistic they can be hard to grasp in the moment...

Essentially, continually finding ways to incorporate God into our routines-

combining practices we do everyday with spiritual ones!

This is also good news for those of us who are always in pursuit of efficiency!  :)

We know that God honors the small things, and that God is not only in our Sundays, 

therefore, I am convinced that taking the time to pursue him "in all our days" (of the week) 

is a holy endeavor, very much worthy of our time and creativity...

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 139:7-11

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day... 

    

Gen 3:8

   

         So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

         1 Cor 10:31

        Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as         a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

        Rom 12:1

        My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working

        John 5:17