How to stop distracting thoughts
Using a prayer of recollection
by
One bright morning, I laced up my shoes and went for a walk in the hopes of escaping our noisy household. I meandered up the hill into a neighborhood, past houses with million-dollar views of our San Diego beaches. I passed by fragrant natal plum bushes, clusters of succulents lining the sidewalks, and palm trees reaching into the sky.
But it wasn’t a quiet walk, I soon realized. Crows cawed, seagulls squabbled, and packs of wild green parrots screeched as they traveled from tree to tree. All of this cacophony joined the usual sounds of planes roaring overhead from the nearby airport.
I’ve noticed that this outside noise mirrors my internal noise. When I’m left alone in a quiet house, when I intentionally make space to hear what the Holy Spirit might be saying to me, I am confronted by a deluge of distracting thoughts drowning out any divine words.
Whenever I invite silence and solitude into my life, I become aware of the squirrel-like nature of my brain: constantly moving, tail twitching, chasing after every acorn. Still, I persist in pursuing an open, listening posture in prayer because I want a two-sided relationship with God.
It is a small comfort to know I am not alone in this struggle. St. Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite nun who lived in the 1500’s and wrote much about spiritual growth, was familiar with the problem of a wandering mind during prayer. She knows the impossibility of speaking with God “while thinking of a thousand other vanities” (“Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life” by Mary Margaret Funk, p. 117).
Teresa’s solution is to practice the prayer of recollection.
The Prayer of Recollection
Recollection is a slowing of our thoughts and a withdrawal of our senses from exterior things in order to turn our mind’s eye toward God. We remember, or “recollect” our souls back to their true home in God’s presence.
And echoing 1 Corinthians 3:16, Teresa reminds us that God’s presence dwells within us. God is closer to us than the breath in our lungs, and maintaining this awareness can reorient us back to God no matter what we are doing—whether we are sitting in silence or running errands.
Last year during Lent, I committed to spending 15 minutes every day in silent, listening prayer. Every time my mind would wander, I would pray my own little prayer of recollection, borrowed from the first two lines of a poem by Methodist Minister Ted Loder: “O God, gather me now to be with you” (“Guerrillas of Grace,” first found in “Invitation to Solitude and Silence” by Ruth Haley Barton).
There is no formulaic prayer of recollection, but I found myself praying these two lines too often to count during my listening prayer time, because, as Adele Ahlberg Calhoun notes:
“The way to a heart at rest in God comes through confessing and abandoning our limited, preoccupied heart” (“The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook” by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, p. 282).
Indeed, Calhoun advises us to invite Jesus to examine our distracted thoughts along with us and ask Him what He might have to say about that particular distraction. And then we can practice leaving that distraction at His feet.
This is a helpful practice when we are making space for silence and solitude. But the prayer of recollection is also available to us at any moment of our busy days.
More and more I find myself wanting—needing—a heart at rest in God…
To unhurry my heart
To shed the shoulds of the world
To resist the rush
To rightly order my desires
To move from frenzied to focused
To remember to whom I belong
In the midst of a busy fall season which will soon be followed by all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we can quiet and still our souls in a prayer of recollection, remembering the root of our identity in God and resting in His constant presence.
The Fruit of the Prayer of Recollection
Imagine how living with an increased awareness of God's presence within us would change the way we live.
It would embolden us to live like Jesus.
It would open our eyes to the image of God in others.
It would heighten our awareness of God's movement in our lives.
It would reorient our desires to find our delight in God.
It would remind us of our very belovedness in God’s eyes.
Borrow These Prayers of Recollection
There is no standard script for prayers of recollection. But I’ve compiled some possibilities to take with you throughout your day:
“Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you” (Psalm 116:7).
Lord, awaken in me an awareness of your love, that I may be filled with you (from Ephesians 3:16-19).
Gather my scattered thoughts that my soul may rejoice in your love (from Psalm 106:47).
O Blessed Jesus, give me stillness of soul in You. Let Your mighty calmness reign in me (St. John of the Cross).
O God, gather me now to be with You, as You are with me (Ted Loder).
Jesus, I come home to You now, eager to lay my burdens at Your feet that I may have rest (from Matthew 11:28).
Sarah K. Butterfield, author of “Around the Clock Mom,” is a writer, speaker, and ministry leader with a heart for empowering busy women to grow deeper in their faith and be intentional with their time. She and her husband and two boys live in sunny San Diego.
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Sarah, this was so inviting and needed today! I'm taking time for listening prayer before diving into my week and all the to-do's. Thank you for sharing these scriptures and prayers to settle my spirit. I can also perfectly imagine the San Diego sights you described! ;)
Sarah, this is beautifully written and I resonate so much as I often have an overactive mind. I love the phrase “…God, gather me now…” I will keep that one at the ready when I need to recenter in the weeks to come.