DAILY EXAMEN
GATHER
Alone or with others, intentionally settle in to a quiet place. Perhaps light a candle and take a few deep breaths to begin.
ENTER GOD’S PRESENCE
O God, who lives in a high and holy place, you also live with us. You are near. Holy Spirit, show us how you have walked with us in the season of Lent. Continue alongside us as we journey this week to the cross.
REFLECT ON MY DAY
Think back over your day. Where have you noticed a new pattern in yourself? An old pattern in yourself?
Ask God to show you times when you experienced prayer today:
- When have I felt loved? What has made me feel close to Jesus? When have I known that Jesus was with me?
Talk to God about when prayer and listening have been hard:
- What has been difficult? When have I felt ashamed? When have I been bored? Have I noticed times when I don’t love God or others? Has God felt far away?
OFFER MY DAY TO GOD
Imagine placing all of your prayers and all of your feelings in Jesus’ arms. Envision his face as he receives them with love. Watch as Jesus carries all of your days, all of your feelings, and all of your questions with him to his cross. Imagine that every moment of your life — each moment you want to hold onto forever, and each you wish would disappear — is buried with Jesus. Silently, wait for Jesus to rise and bring all of your life with him. Imagine what it will be like, when the power that brings Jesus back from the dead shines through every moment of your life.
Closing prayer from Psalm 3:
You, O Lord, are a shield about us.
You are our glory, and the one who lifts our heads.
We cried to you, and you heard our voices.
We lie down and sleep; and we wake again, because you care for us. Amen.
DAILY PRACTICE
Stewarding Pain
“Pain insists upon being attended to.
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain:
it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” -C.S. Lewis
Experiencing pain is an unavoidable part of being human. We can try to escape it, or numb ourselves to it, but it “insists on being attended to.” Being in touch with our pain can be a frightening prospect, but as Frederick Buechner writes: “Keep in touch with [your pain] because it is at those moments of pain where you are most open to the pain of other people—most open to your own deep places.”
As you pray this week, pay attention to you pain. Are there unhealthy ways you are attempting to escape your pain? Are there places of unattended pain that you need to embrace? Have you closed yourself off from your own pain or the pain of others? Allow God to meet you in your pain.
“And remember the cross…out of that greatest pain endured in love and faithfulness,
comes the greatest beauty and our greatest hope.”
- Frederick Buechner, “Stewardship of Pain”