Today's Heartlift with Janell

For over three decades, Janell has studied the idea of prayer + meditation. There is a great deal written on meditation, but it can often be misrepresented within the faith community. During her own journey of study, Janell found a powerful quote that spoke so clearly on "why" we need the spiritual discipline of meditation. Puritan preacher-writer, Thomas Manton, beautifully writes, "Meditation is a middle sort of duty between the word and prayer, and has respect to both. The word feeds meditation, and meditation feeds prayer. These duties must always go hand in hand; meditation must follow hearing and precede prayer. To hear and not to meditate is unfruitful. We may hear and hear, but it is like putting a thing into a bag with holes... It is rashness to pray and not to meditate. What we take in by the word we digest by meditation and let out by prayer. These three duties must be ordered that one may not jostle out the other. Men are barren, dry, and sapless in their prayers for want of exercising themselves in holy thoughts." Today, we welcome Author and fellow Christian Meditation student + teacher, Sarah Geringer, to the podcast to talk about her book, "Transforming Your Thought Life," and how Christian meditation helps us do that!