Today’s morning meditation is available below in audio and script formats. The audio version is also available for free download on the player.

Reading

We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.

—The Tao Te Ching

Prayer

How can emptiness be of any value?

When we value something, our attention is often on what we can see or touch.  For example, when you see a pot, your attention is likely to be on its shape, its color, workmanship, and the material it’s made of.

These are the being. Being is important, or the pot cannot be a pot. There is, however, something that you can neither see nor touch in the pot that makes the pot useful.  What do you think it is?

It’s the on-being.  In the case of the pot, it’s the emptiness.

Just imagine! If the pot goes without the emptiness in the body, what is the use of the pot? You can’t use it to carry water, neither can you use it for cooking. It’s just a mass of clay!

You cannot see the emptiness, but it’s the purpose of the pot’s existence.

Quiet

As your day begins, spend a few moments in silence and stillness, focussing on the available space in you where God dwells.

Podcast Feeds

Abbreviations

(BC) The Belgic Confession

(CAC) The Center For Action & Contemplation

(CD) The Canons of Dort

(CIB) Church In Bethesda Prayers

(DZ) Donna Z.

(HC) The Heidelberg Catechism

(MAO) Michael A. O’Sullivan

(NT) The New Testament

(OT) The Old Testament

(RP) Ryan Phipps

(TAO) The Tao Te Ching

(WC) The Westminster Confession

(WLB) Words To Live By

(WLC) The Westminster Larger Catechism

(WSC) The Westminster Shorter Catechism

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