Nicolas Herman was a soldier who became a monk. In the monastery, he was assigned to the kitchen — a task he initially despised. But in the steam and clatter of pots and pans, he discovered a secret that would make him one of the most beloved spiritual teachers of all time.
He took the name Brother Lawrence. And his teaching was devastatingly simple: "We can do little things for God. I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God. When it is done, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the floor and worship my God who gave me the grace to make it. After that, I rise happier than a king."
"The time of business does not differ from the time of prayer.
In the noise and clatter of my kitchen,
While several persons are calling for different things,
I possess God in as great tranquility
As if I were upon my knees.
It is not necessary to have great things to do."
Brother Lawrence had no system, no technique, no method. He simply practiced remembering God's presence in every moment. When he forgot, he gently reminded himself. When he remembered, he offered whatever he was doing as a gift. "My prayer," he said, "is attention."
He distinguished this practice from what he called "devotions." "Many people," he observed, "engage in prayers, retreats, and spiritual exercises, then return to ordinary life and forget God until the next religious occasion. This is not what I mean. I mean an habitual, silent, secret conversation of the soul with God."
"I do not advise you to use many words in prayer.
Many words and long discourses
Often provide occasions for wandering.
Hold yourself before God like a dumb man,
A paralytic who cannot turn himself,
A beggar at a rich man's gate.
Your business is to keep your mind in the presence of the Lord."
When visitors came seeking spiritual guidance, they found a humble cook who radiated joy. "He was rough by nature," one wrote, "but God had bestowed on him such a sweet manner that one felt attracted to him." Another observed: "He seemed to carry with him a sense of the divine presence everywhere he went."
Brother Lawrence lived to be about eighty. He died as he had lived — in the middle of ordinary work, with his mind fixed on God. His few letters and conversations, collected after his death, became one of the most widely read spiritual books in history.
The teaching remains: God is present everywhere, in every moment, in every task. The practice is simply to remember. The fruit is joy.
Teaching 22
God is present everywhere — in the kitchen as much as the chapel. The practice is simply to remember this presence in every moment, in every task. Turn your omelet with love. Wash your dishes with attention. Prayer is not separate from life; it is attention to the divine in life.