stone by stone, the pathway of lent
Lent has been going on for several weeks, and I am beginning to take the time to reflect each evening, in prayer, until Easter. I'm pretty dang excited about it.
This idea may thrill you or bore you, but I am of the unwavering belief that God wants to speak to us. He really has a lot to say, actually, when we take the time to listen to him as well as speak to him.
My life moves fast. The idea of spending some time in reflection at the end of the day sounds really, really good right about now.
This model of prayer can take five minutes or it can take an hour. It's really up to you.
I am following a particular prayer model called Examen. Examen is the prayer of St. Ignatius, a saint of the early Church. .
The lovely people of 24/7 prayer are doing weekly podcasts to help along with times of reflection. Here's the link for the art of examen podcast .
I wrote down the five steps from the prayer and am going to go through them each evening before I go to sleep. I may even go so far as to write down what I pray and what He says, if anything. Or I may just sit at his feet.
The five steps are:
- Become aware of God's presence
- Think through your day with gratitude
- Reflect on it emotionally
- Choose one thing to pray for
- Look to tomorrow