One of the most essential practices of the spiritual life is to keep the Lord before us all of the time. David knew this: "I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure" (Psalm 16:8-9).
So how do we do this? When we take some time to retreat, we have the time to quiet our “inner noisy workshop.” Sometimes it takes 24 hours of solitude before we can begin to be present to the Lord. I've found some ways that help me to quiet the inner noise - things as simple as keeping a list so that my mind doesn't have to be continually reminding of things I don't want to forget.
Along with quieting the inner noise, we need to fill our minds with Jesus. We open ourselves to him and direct our thinking toward him. This is another goal. We can develop the habit of keeping the words of the Gospels in our minds by reading them carefully day by day, and re-reading them. We can memorize them. I find that when I am actively working on memorizing a passage, I naturally recall it throughout the day.
Keeping the Lord before us is a choice, a habit, a skill that we can practice and become better at. If we stick with it, keeping our mind focused on the Lord and at peace in Him will become the default. Our minds will return to him naturally, as a matter of habit.
Memorizing Scripture is such a gift as it helps our mind muse upon God.
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