When I sit down to begin my quiet time, or reflection time, or meditation time, or whatever name it goes by, in the morning, sometimes my thoughts immediately go to "what can I write about this morning?" Then I realize that those thoughts are out of place, they are not the real motivation for spending this time.
This is one reason that I like the structure of that Examen.me website. The first screen that comes up is a place for me to write my prayer for the study. What do I want God to do in my life in the time that I am about to dedicate to hearing from Him? The prayer that I write down becomes a way to settle my thoughts into what I feel He might want to tell me at that moment.
Then I read the Psalm portion for the day, followed by the Gospel reading, and then I go for a short mind-clearing walk outside, thinking about what I had read and wondering about the application for my life, for that day in particular, but also for my life in general.
This morning, as I walked through the neighborhood, I saw a woman walking her dog, and I saw her stop to talk to a man as he picked up his morning paper from the driveway. I knew these people and called them by name in my mind. I did not know what they faced in their lives, what joys they might have this morning or what concerns. I was too far away to read any expression on their faces, or to exchange any words with them, but God seemed to say that I could pray for them, so I did. Just a simple mentioning of their names to Him, nothing profound, just a quick nod in their direction.
As I continued to walk, I thought of others whose houses I passed by, and threw up a fast prayer for them. I did not think about yesterday, or of the hours yet to come in this day, but just of those people and their lives in that moment There was nothing profound in all of this, but just an acknowledging of persons by name, and asking God to be in their lives. They were not just a shapeless mass of humanity, but actual people, with names and lives, that could use a "helping" of God in their individual existences.
The two readings for this morning were filled with "they" and "them". Each they and each them represented a real live person, a person with fears, joys, hopes and aspirations, and each person that I come into contact with is the same.
Perhaps I should, and could, do more for each one of these that I thought of and mentioned this morning, but the least I could do was to pray that God would be with them that day. So I called out mentally, these names, as I walked.
The thought passed through my mind, as I did this, that maybe, just maybe, that I should be more concerned about "the others" in my life and less about myself.
Could I actually do that?
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