Living the "Thank You"

It's been a long (LONG) time since I last wrote. But I felt compelled to update the blog because of a conversation I just had with a friend.

A friend asked:
How do you make time for God? I mean, I am so busy and whenever I think about all that I owe Him I just feel bad that I don't make more time for Him. But then I know that He loves me and I know that I love Him and isn't that enough? Why do I need anything more than that?

Really great questions, I think. And I often struggle with the 'cerebral reflex' that I feel when I am reminded to pray, to put myself before Christ and ask, as Ignatius recommends in The Spiritual Exercises:

What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What will I do for Christ?

It's easy for me to simply answer these questions:
A lot.
Just about everything.
Whatever He needs.

And then I'm done. But this isn't how we grow. And our relationship with God is an invitation to constant growth, ever-increasing intimacy. It's on us to actually accept this gift and task.

But how?

First of all, we have to change our mentality. It's not so much about trying to fit God into our lives but realizing that God is in EVERYTHING. Grace is always and everywhere present to us. The key, then, is growing more and more open and aware (and appreciative) of this reality.

So I think the first thing is starting with an orientation of gratitude. Everything is gift. When we wake up in the morning, do we say, "Oh, crap, I don't want to get out of bed." Or do we say, "Yes! Today is such an amazing gift! THANK YOU!" Okay, okay, that might sound really REALLY cheesey. But it's as simple as that: a fundamental orientation of gratitude.

So it's about how we start our day (and how we end our day) and how we live every minute of the day. Ignatius says that ingratitude is the root of all sin. I think he's right. Because when we begin with gratitude, we receive everything as gift and we make our lives a return-gift to God. That is, gratitude moves us toward generosity so that we can make the most of our gifts, talents, opportunities, etc. In other words, we embrace the gift, and then we share it freely, fully in loving words and deeds. This is service. So service is a dimension of EVERYTHING we do. It describes our way of life, not just individual acts of kindness, not just another thing to check-off on our to-do list.

To maintain this kind of lifestyle, though, we need to be nourished. That's where the Word comes in. So although God is a part of every moment in every day, I do think we have to be intentional about not only recognizing the grace that surrounds us, but also inviting the Spirit into our hearts and mind -- and we can do this by spending time with the Word.

You might enjoy this link: http://wau.org/meditations/current
It provides brief (but very good) reflections on the readings of the day. Find 15 minutes to center yourself, sit with the Word, reflect on it, and say a prayer to ask that the Word shapes you over the course of that day. Short, sweet, worth every second.

And then reflection. This is why I love Ignatius. God is intimately involved in our lives, so desperately wants us to grow in love in God and for God. How do we do this? The Examen. If you need a link, you can use this one: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/prs/stign/ignatian_spirit.html

St. Ignatius Parish has listed the Examen Prayer AND the First Principle and Foundation -- both really great ways to look for ways God was at work in and through you and the others you encountered, and perhaps also ways that maybe you turned your back on God or on others in your life. If you get in the habit of this, you'll memorize the five steps and it will be a grace-filled, peaceful, insightful way to end every day.

So to sum up, it's not about trying to fit God into our day; God is ALWAYS ALREADY present in us, with us, through us to others and from others. So our task is to be more open and aware of this, to receive this gift, and to offer ourselves as a return-gift.

And yet, we do have to find ways to PUT GOD FIRST in our lives. We can't just squeeze God in when it's convenient for us. Because the Evil One will give us too many excuses to make time. Remember the line from Revelations (3:16): I would rather you be hot or cold, but if you are lukewarm, I wil spit you out of my mouth. Or the gospel from this past Sunday (Lk. 12:32-48): where your heart is, there also your treasure will be. How you spend your day reveals what matters most to you. So make sure you are showing the world that you live your life for Christ. Jesus constantly talked about the fact that we have to cleave to God against the rest of the world; put God first; make our first and last and only loyalty to God. Well, the question to ask is, how are you living in a way that puts God first?

My hope is that this reminds us all on the one hand not to be too hard on ourselves but on the other hand, to accept and live the challenge to keep deepening our relationship with Christ. The goal is to live in the both/and, to be gentle with ourselves but also to nudge ourselves in the direction of growth. I find the best way to do this is to remember that we are surrounded by grace in every moment. And that at any time, we can turn to our Loving Parent and say "thank you." And then, the rest of that day, live the "thank you" in how we think, feel, say, and do.