Life has been busy. Maybe it is the season of life. My teen sons cannot yet drive but still have violin lessons and jujitsu classes they need to be driven to. And my husband and I have so much work, it is rare we are both home the same evening. In these moments of busy-ness, I always return to the Examen to ground me. As I sit in my home office at the end of the day, simply taking a deep breath to become aware of God’s presence feels like an absolute gift.
I review the day as I prepare for bed. I remember the morning coffee my husband brought me with the perfect cream, sugar, and coffee ratio that only he seems to know. I see his sweet face in my mind as he brought me the coffee, knowing it was an act of service and love. And I see the faces of my sleepy teen boys as they plodded down the stairs that morning, brushing their teeth and making eggs before they left for school. My eldest pressed his hand with an “I love you” sign to my office window before he left the yard.
My work gives me the opportunity to spend constant time in God’s Word and thoughts of his goodness and love. Even when I take calls or meetings, it is to listen to publishers and other writers as we flush out these ideas together. I remember the face of one of my editors in an online meeting as she attempted to articulate what it is to be human and made in God’s image.
Mid-day I hit the gym. It feels good to take care of this body God has given me, knowing it is connected to my soul. I recall Pope St. John Paul II’s words that “the body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It has been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world, the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it.” (Theology of the Body 19:4) Our bodies give us a glimpse of the invisible world.
I remember the faces of the women in the locker room, who share moments of their own day with me. None are religious, but they are always open to my words about God’s grace. All these connections flood my heart with gratitude.
I turn in the Examen to moments I failed and think of how I gossiped or spoke ill of a person. Even in seeing my sin, I am grateful to have it revealed, to know God desires for me to be holy and that sin keeps me from connecting with him and others.
Through the Examen, all the busy-ness—deadlines and the afternoon of meetings and driving, grocery shopping and cooking, conversations on screen and in the car and the locker room—feels like abundance instead of drudgery. I see a lavish life instead of toil. And I remember the Lord said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) All I can say is thank you.
Photo by Kevin Butz on Unsplash.