Take a Good Look

The unexamined life is not worth living. That famous dictum is attributed to Socrates and according to Wikipedia, it means that “life lacking self-reflection, critical inquiry, and examination of one’s own beliefs and actions is not truly human or worth living, as it lacks purpose, wisdom and virtue and this is significant because it emphasizes the belief that continuous learning, introspection, and questioning of one’s own assumptions are necessary to achieve fulfillment and truth.”

I’d like to take liberties with these words of Socrates, and add that the same can be said for a spiritual life. An unexamined spiritual life isn’t necessarily “not worth living” but it’s certainly, not what God has in mind. It’s in the examining of our everyday moments that we discover the very real presence of God.

In his book, Thoughts in Solitude, Thomas Merton says, “The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.” To really live a spiritual life, we need to become aware of and open to, the grace-filled moments in our daily lives when God’s presence is undeniable.

The spiritual practice of examining our day with a focus on discovering God’s presence was the subject at this week’s “Keeping Spirituality Alive” series at Firstfruits.  In the words of Fr. Dennis Hamm, SJ, we were taught how to “rummage for God.”  He says, “Rummaging for God is an expression that suggests going through a drawer full of stuff, feeling around, looking for something that you’re sure must be in there somewhere.”

I think that’s the doorway to keeping our spiritualty alive. Believing and acknowledging that God IS in our daily lives, somewhere, and letting that knowledge motivate us to regularly examine just where.

The picture above was the presence of God in my yesterday. A simple moment of delight with two of my grandbabies. I see it that way now, because my eyes are open and I believe. There was a day when that moment wasn’t God, it was simply babysitting.

“The ‘eye,’ which opens to His presence, is in the very center of our humility, in the very heart of our freedom, in the very depths of our spiritual nature.”       Thomas Merton

Joan

Click here to read more about the “Keeping Spirituality Alive” series at Firstfruits.

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