by Brother Lawrence
Long considered a Christian classic, The Practice of the Presence of God describes the spiritual discipline of constantly maintaining an awareness of God’s presence, as practiced by a 17th century French monk. Nicolas Herman was born in 1614. He served as a soldier during the Thirty Years War, where he was wounded. In 1640 Herman entered the Discalced Carmelite monestary in Paris, taking the name Brother Lawrence. He remained there until his death in 1691.
The book, published after his death, is quite short, at only 24 pages. It records some of Brother Lawrence’s conversations and letters, in which he describes his habit of mainting an ongoing conversation with God in the midst of his everyday activities. The order’s set times of prayer, he reported, became no different for him than other times. Although he obeyed his Superior’s directions, “he did not want such retirement, nor ask for it, because his greatest business did not divert him from GOD” (page 5).
The foundation for spiritual life Brother Lawrence discovered was to do his ordinary work “without any view of pleasing men, and (as far as we are capable) purely for the love of GOD” (page 7). When he failed in this, as he often did, he simply confessed his failure to God and began again. He did the same whenever he let his mental conversation with God lapse. And this, I think, is the major takeaway for the modern reader: Brother Lawrence was not inherently any better at keeping his thoughts on God than we are. He was simply more presistent than most of us. He recognized that continual failure was exactly what should be expected from a sinner like himself, and attributed every success to the grace of God. Most of us will often say something similar, but for Brother Lawrence it was the reality he lived.
Then, as now, monks did not spend all their waking hours in prayer and Bible study. They had set times for these during the day, but the rest of the time they worked to maintain the monastery as a functioning community, doing essentially the same things they would have done in a secular job. Brother Lawrence’s assignment was as a full time cook. The practice he describes, therefore, is just as suitable for those of us who are not in vocational Christian work as for those who are.
The book also contains a good deal about the benefits of suffering, a point of view that is more commonly found among Catholics like Brother Lawrence than it is among Protestants. But it is an attitude that does have Biblical support; for example in Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 1:5-7 and 1 Peter 4:12-13.
I first read this book in early 2022. I can testify that the practice Brother Lawrence describes is simple in concept, but difficult to carry out. It requires persistence, and I doubt that I’ll ever be as good at it as he was. But even given the very limited extent to which I have been able to maintain God’s presence in my thoughts, I’ve found this to be a game changer in my attempt to live out what it means to be God’s son. In particular, practicing the presence of God makes it easier to resist temptation. It is also a significant help in remembering to, “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
The Practice of the Presence of God is well worth the short amount of time it takes to read. But the real benefit comes not from reading, but from following Brother Lawrence’s example of living, or trying to live, in constant conversation with God. I believe that this practice will help any believer obey the Biblical command to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), in the recognition that our identity as God’s sons and daughters is not just something for us to know, but a reality for us to live out.