Brother Lawrence became famous for just being an ordinary guy who was aware that God was always with him. His few letters to a friend (a friend that he specifically asked not to publish) were published as the timeless classic The Practice of the Presence of God. Fortunately, to this day, the book remains a foundational treatise on how to experience and grow in relationship with God.
In the book, Brother Lawrence tells his friend how he lived his life, day to day, with a simple awareness of God’s love. He was nobody special at all. He had no unique superpowers other than being an ordinary human being who worked as a cook. Yet people would come from miles away to speak with him and to even watch him cook, just because there was a presence about him that was contagious!
Brother Lawrence wrote in his letter, “I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention, and a general fond regard to God, which I may call an actual presence of God; or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God, which often causes me joys and raptures inwardly, and sometimes also outwardly, so great that I am forced to use means to moderate them and prevent their appearance to others.”
Lawrence stated in another letter, “I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of God.” This shows us that it is not good just to be a religious person by name. If that is all religion is, then everyone might be better off ditching religion. The teachings of Brother Lawrence, however, remind us that there is a real tangible presence that makes the gospel message the most powerful thing in the world: That God is really at work in our lives and he is a real presence—a real Person.
Being aware of his presence is not hard at all. Think about Jesus… Was (and is) it hard for him to experience the Father? No! There’s no striving in His presence. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. It is easier than breathing air. You do not “think” your way into it; your heart and mind simply become aware of the One who is already here, there, and everywhere!
Lawrence continued, “He requires no great matters of us. You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we are aware of.” The truth is, God has been speaking to all of us, all along. He has never not been around us. He is God and his love is everywhere! The universe exists in Him. We have all been experiencing God our whole lives, it is time to just wake up and realize it. This is what “repentance” is all about. God is all around us and he is not going anywhere. The fullness of his joy fills the earth. So, it is time to repent and turn to this glorious God!
Lawrence said, “Everyone is capable of such familiar conversation with God.” This echoes a prophecy from Jeremiah, which is something for us today: “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). This is clearly a New Covenant promise that we can all know God for ourselves.
When we give our simple attention to the God who is love, we are met by the pure affection of our Father. He surrounds us in every way. Lawrence wrote, “The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence.”
A happy life can be found in the simple awareness of God’s love. Brother Lawrence taught us that experiencing God is not hard and it’s not for the spiritually elite. Moreover, we can experience God in the regular spaces of day to day life. Whether we are mowing the lawn, driving to work, watching TV, spending time with our children, sitting on the toilet, or doing the dishes, God is all around us, loving us as his precious children.
An excerpt from Dylan DeMarsico’s forthcoming book “The Happy Trinity”