Tag: prayer

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Live Contemplative Prayer + The Spiritual Exercises

Live Guided Meditation

Do you need to nourish your soul this summer? Join us at The Stillness Collective for a live guided meditation based on Scripture on Tuesday, July 26th, at 7pm. RSVP here to receive the Zoom link. This is a FREE event! David Buchs will be providing music and there will be an optional time of sharing after the meditation concludes.

The Ignatian Exercises: A Life-Changing Journey of Spiritual Formation

Also, I’m happy to report that I’ve completed my training in accompanying directees through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises! Created by St. Ignatius of Loyola and used for centuries in the spiritual formation of Jesuit priests, the Spiritual Exercises take you on a 34-week life-changing journey through Scripture, prayer, God’s unfailing and creative love, and understanding how to recognize the work and calling of God in your life. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Exercises totally changed my relationship with God and prayer, even though I became a Christian at age 5. I became more peaceful and confident, less anxious, more compassionate, and more accepting. My trust and faith in God grew. I became a better parent and partner. And the changes didn’t stop when the Exercises were over. My encounter with God and the prayer and discernment practices I learned during those nine months continue to define and deepen my faith.

If you have a deep desire for more intimacy with God, are looking for greater peace and freedom in your life, want to explore your calling, or perhaps are finding that your old ways of reading the Bible and praying aren’t satisfying to you anymore, and have the time to invest in daily reading, prayer, and journaling, the Exercises might be for you. The Exercises usually launch sometime in September, so that the readings on Advent and Easter roughly line up with the church calendar. If this stirs something inside of you, I would love to be your director and guide through the Exercises! Please contact me at cmyers.spiritualdirection@gmail.com to find out more information and to discern next steps.

In faith, hope, and love,

Carrie

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Discernment as a Way of Life: A New Course

Come join me and my partners in The Stillness Collective in a new course! It’s called “Discernment as a Way of Life: A Practical and Spiritual Approach to Decision-Making.” It launches Sunday, May 15th and will go for six weeks.

Why are we offering this course?

Because we’ve noticed lately that we know many people who are in the midst of big life-changes and discernment processes. They are seeking to make decisions with God, but don’t know how.

That’s where our course comes in. We’d like to introduce you to a well-loved book by Elizabeth Liebert called The Way of Discernment. It offers a time-tested, practical method of Christian discernment, based on the spirituality and practices of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

In our own lives, we’ve found it immensely comforting and empowering to have a method to follow rather than being left to muddle through with trial and error – or well-intentioned but not always helpful advice.

We also believe that Ignatian discernment doesn’t just help with decision making! It provides a framework for experiencing God in a deeper way in our day-to-day lives.

We want you to have these tools at your disposal, so that you, too, can grow in your experience of God and have a greater understanding of and confidence in his leading in your life.

I’m really excited about this course! Ignatian discernment is something I turn to over and over for wisdom and guidance. I hope you’ll join us and see what impact it could have on your life, too!

As always, thanks so much for being here and for your support. And please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

In faith, love, and hope –

Carrie

Course details: Sundays from May 15 – June 19 (six weeks), 7-9pm, via Zoom. For more information, including pricing, visit the course page at The Stillness Collective. Or, come join our information session on Thursday, May 5, at 7pm. Register here.

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New Contemplative Reflections on Psalm 16 and Philippians 4:6-9

My partners and I at Soul Space released a new reflection yesterday! Featuring Psalm 16, it invites us to make God the center of our hope and trust, to follow him in his way of life and joy, and to see the abundant ways he is already present in our lives. 

Last month, we also released a reflection on Philippians 4:6-8, a contemplation to help us cope with anxieties and fear by following the Apostle Paul’s RX for peace: gratitude, prayer, and focusing our thoughts on all that is good and comes from God. 

In the meantime, we are also planning more reflections for the fall! Starting in November, we are hoping to release a series of 5 meditations per month. One will continue to be free, and the other four will be behind a paywall of some sort – we’re still working out the details. Our first series will be in November, on Gratitude (of course!), and in December, an Advent series entitled, “Opening Ourselves Up . . . to God’s Holy Disturbance.” Each month will include four different types of prayer based on the month’s theme: an Ignatian imaginative prayer, a Daily Examen, a breath prayer, and a Lectio Divina. 

We’ve gotten some really great feedback on what we’ve done so far, so thank you to all who have listened, responded, and shared with your friends and family! All of us have had our lives and relationships with God changed by contemplative practices (and by spiritual direction) and are passionate about bringing them to as many people as possible. – Carrie

Find me on Instagram @ravishedbylight

Find SoulSpace on Instagram @soulspacecenter

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Listen to a New Guided Meditation at soulspace.center

I’m so excited to announce my friends and fellow spiritual directors Janine Rohrer and David Buchs have launched our new website, Soul Space. At Soul Space, we create room for your soul to breathe. Our vision is to make space for busy people to find rest, nourishment, and inspiration for their souls. We offer guided meditations, spiritual direction, and retreats.

To go with the new website, we’ve posted a new guided meditation, set to David’s ambient music. Based on Psalm 25, it leads the listener to prayerfully reflect on trust, hope, and repentance and on God’s guidance, compassion, and love.

Listen to it now and let your soul find rest from a busy day! We’ll be releasing a new recording next week, too!

You can also find archived reflections on our Soul Space page at Soundcloud.

Find me on Instagram @ravishedbylight.

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Contemplative Prayer on Matthew 8:5-13: Authority and Faith

This prayer is based on the story of the Roman officer who asked Jesus to heal his servant. It’s a meditation on the authority given to each of us by God and how we are invited to wield it on his behalf. It also asks us to consider how God has stretched our faith in the past and how he might be doing so in the present. The prayer time begins with a breathing exercise called box breathing, which can be used by someone who is in a state of stress or agitation to attain focus and calm. If you are planning to lead this prayer, leave plenty of space for reflection in between the questions.

Find a comfortable position and close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose slowly, counting to four as you inhale. Hold for four counts, then breathe out for four counts. Repeat: inhale, 2-3-4, hold, 2-3-4, release 2-3-4. Inhale, 2-3-4, hold, 2-3-4, release, 2-3-4.

How do you come to prayer today? What is the state of your mind? Your body? Your heart? What hopes and fears, worries and joys do you bring to Jesus today? 

For today’s prayer time, I will guide you through an imaginative prayer on Matthew 8:5-13. This is the story of a Roman officer who asked Jesus to heal his servant from a terrible illness. 

As you listen to the story, pay notice what most catches your attention and sparks your imagination. 

Jesus, I pray that you would guide this time of contemplation and prayer. Enliven our senses and our imaginations to perceive you. Enfold us with your love. 

Matthew 8:5-13

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer[b] came and pleaded with him, 6 “Lord, my young servant[c] lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

7 Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”

8 But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 9 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! 11 And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12 But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

What are your immediate responses to this passage? What stands out to you? With whom do you most identify? With the officer? With the servant? Or with Jesus? At what point of the story did your strongest emotions emerge?

I will read the passage again. This time, use your imagination to place yourself in the scene. You may imagine yourself as someone in the story or perhaps as an observer or an object. Use your senses and emotions to fill in the story – see the light glinting off the solder’s armor and hear Jesus’ voice as he expresses compassion or surprise. Smell the dust in the air and feel the heat of the sun on your skin. Or perhaps feel the pain and fear of the sick servant. 

The story in your imagination does not need to unfold in the same way as the passage, nor does it need to stop when the passage does. Allow God to guide your imagination as he will.

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer[b] came and pleaded with him, 6 “Lord, my young servant[c] lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

7 Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”

8 But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 9 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! 11 And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12 But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

How did the story unfold for you? What did you notice? What did you feel in your emotions or in your body? 

What did you sense the Lord communicating to you through your imagination? What would you like to say to him in return?

Two themes that come up in this story are authority and faith. Like the Roman soldier, there are places in your life where you are under authority and places where you have authority. 

First and foremost, you are under the authority of God. What does that mean to you? How do you feel about being under God’s authority?  Are there any places you are trying to retain authority over your own life? What would it look like to surrender those areas to God?

You also have God-given authority through Jesus and the Holy Spirit: authority to pray and work for God’s purposes, to ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help, and to help others experience the power and love of God. How do you feel about having this kind of authority? Are there any kinds of authority that God seems to have especially gifted you with – for example, the authority to heal or teach or pray, to free people from the influence of evil spirits, to prophesy, or to help others know Jesus? 

Is there any kind of spiritual authority you would like to ask for? If you feel comfortable doing so, ask Jesus for it now. 

In the human realm, you may also have authority: for example, over your family our household, or over people who work for you. You may have authority that comes from your job title, your education, or your experience. Based on your ethnicity and gender or other characteristics, you may have or lack certain kinds of cultural or social authority. 

What kinds of authority to do you have? In other words, in what areas of life do you have the power to make something happen? In this past week, how have you used your authority?

What kinds of authority might you lack?  

Are there any ways that God is inviting you to change how you wield your power? How might you be called to use or expand your authority? What kinds of power might you be invited to give up?

Turning to the question of faith, what are some ways you have exercised faith in the past? How did it feel to have your faith stretched? What was the result?

Where is your faith being challenged right now? Where in your life is God saying, “Go,” “Come,” or “Do this?” How would you like God to meet you in this challenge of faith? 

In the week to come, what is one way you can exercise your faith?  And what is one way you can use your authority, either in the human or spiritual realm, on behalf of God and God’s purposes?

Move now to a time of silence. For a moment, sit face to face with Jesus. Imagine his loving, accepting gaze on you. Take in the expression of his face, the posture of his body. Feel his heart. What would you like to take away from your time with him?

Jesus, I thank you that you have all authority in heaven and on earth. I thank you that you always use your power to help, heal, and save, never to harm. Help us to step into the authority you have given us, whether spiritual or in the human realm, so that we may participate in your Kingdom mission. And help us to dismantle systems of false authority that lead to oppression and suffering. Help us to use our power as Jesus did, on behalf of others.

Thank you for joining this time of prayer. As you go from here, may the Holy Spirit bring you the imagination, authority, and faith to see what God is doing and join in. Amen.

Photo credit: pixabay

Find me on Instagram: @ravishedbylight

Find guided contemplative prayers set to original ambient music at soulspace.center.

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Contemplative Prayer on 1 Corinthians 1:18, 24-28

Start by finding a comfortable position. Close your eyes. Take deep, slow, even breaths. Use your breaths to ground yourself in the present moment. Take this opportunity to be kind to yourself. Wrap your arms around yourself and give yourself a hug. This is something you can do when you feel stressed or anxious – it actually releases chemicals in your brain that will help you feel more relaxed and cared for. As you hug yourself – make sure it’s a good squeeze! – imagine God smiling down on you with compassion and love.

In our prayer time, you will have an opportunity to consider your weaknesses – your character flaws, the places where you lack power, strength, wealth, or the ability to succeed as you might wish – in the light of God’s love and grace.  You will have the chance to ask how God sees your weaknesses . . . and how he might be using them for his Kingdom. 

1 Corinthians 1: 18, 24-28 says that:

18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! 

24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles,[f] Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy[g] when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world,[h] things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.

In this passage, the Apostle Paul calls our attention to the difference between what God considers valuable and what the world considers valuable. Paul invites us to reflect on God’s foolishness in choosing Jesus as the instrument of our salvation. Jesus came in a frail, human body that was easily broken and killed, yet God transformed that weakness into a resurrection power that changed the world. This passage also invites us to reflect on our own weaknesses and how God might use those more powerfully than our strengths.

Jesus, I pray you will send your Holy Spirit to guide this time. As we reflect prayerfully on our weaknesses, I ask that you would keep away any shame or discouragement. Help us to look with compassion on ourselves, trusting that you work in and through all things, even those things we may struggle with in ourselves.

I will read the passage again. As you listen, ask the Lord to guide your thoughts and emotions. 

18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! 

24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles,[f] Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy[g] when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world,[h] things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.

Ask God to bring to your mind something about yourself that you consider a weakness. It might be related to your body, mind, emotions. Or perhaps it has to do with a relationship or a desire or personality trait that seems to get in your way. If more than one weakness or flaw comes to mind, ask the Lord to help you focus on only what he would like to talk to you about today.

When you’ve settled on a particular weakness, sit with it for a moment. What effect has this particular weakness has had on your life or the life of those around you? What memories and emotions come to your mind regarding this weakness?

How do you believe it has held you back? How do you believe things might be different if you didn’t have this weakness? 

Now, begin to look at your weakness in the light of God’s love for you as his child. Psalm 139 says that God knew you before you were born, that he knit you together in your mother’s womb. 

Imagine that you are there, with God, watching yourself being formed. Imagine your heart beginning to beat, your organs beginning to form, your fingers and toes beginning to move. Picture God bending down to breathe life into your lungs.

What does God see and know about you, as he is there with you before your birth? What do you see and know about yourself, as you bear witness with God to your creation? 

Enter into conversation with God. What does he say about who you are now? What does he say about your weakness? What would you like to say back to God? Are there any questions you would like to ask him? How does he answer you?

As you look back on your life, can you see any ways that God has your weakness or used it for good?  For example, a person with a quick temper may turn their anger and passion towards working for justice. Or a person too shy to pray out loud may turn out to be a powerful intercessor in the privacy of their own home. In your life, how has God what seems like a flaw into a strength?

How might your weakness reveal more about the work God has designed you to do? How might God be inviting you to act on his behalf in the world? Imagine yourself giving your weakness to God and asking him to use it as he sees fit. How does it feel to do this? How does God respond?

Turn your attention to the week ahead. Are there any specific ways God is inviting you to let him use your weakness to bring a positive change in someone’s life? If you feel led to do so, commit to taking those actions. 

This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

Jesus, thank you that in you, we can see the weakness and foolishness of God in all its beauty and power. Thank you that in you, no part of us is despised or wasted, but can all be used for your glory and for the healing of the world.

As you go from this time of prayer, may you be blessed knowing that God has created and chosen you for a purpose. May Jesus go with you and the Holy Spirit empower you as you live out that purpose in the week ahead. Amen.

Photo credit: Photo by Frank Cone from Pexels

Find me on Instagram @ravishedbylight.

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Breath Prayer on 1 John 1:5-7, “God is Light”

God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

This was the contemplative prayer for today’s service at Vineyard One NYC. The prayer alludes to, though does not explicitly mention, the events of these past weeks: the murder of George Floyd – and countless other black men and women – the #BlackLivesMatter protests that have spread throughout the U.S. and beyond, the police violence against largely peaceful protestors, and the covid-19 epidemic, which disproportionately affects black and Hispanic communities. (More direct teaching and prayer about these events happened at other times in the service.) It invites repentance, prayers for unity, and action towards becoming a person who bears Jesus’ light into the world.

If you choose to lead this prayer, leave ample time for everyone to reflect and to listen to God’s voice.

Breath Prayer on 1 John 1:5-7

Breath prayer is a contemplative practice in which we breathe slowly and deeply, gradually synchronizing our breathing to short prayers or phrases that we pray aloud or quietly in our head. As we breathe, we are praying with our body, allowing God’s presence to take root in not only our minds and our hearts, but our physical being as well.

As we begin our time, I pray that we would be surrounded by God’s presence, love, and peace. In these turbulent days of violence, racism, illness, and uncertainty, may Jesus give us courage and to do his will, trust in his plans, and hope for the future. 

I invite you to find a comfortable position wherever you are. Close your eyes and begin to breathe deeply and slowly. Pay attention to the rhythm of your breath. You may want to put your hands on your chest or stomach so you can feel your body rise and fall as you inhale and exhale. Breathe out any tension you may be feeling in your body. Relax your face, your neck, your shoulders, your arms and hands. Relax your legs and feet. Continue to breathe slowly and deliberately. 

What emotions are you feeling right now?

God loves you without reservation, right now, exactly as you are. Surrender yourself to his love.

Today, the phrases from our breath prayer will come from 1 John 1:5-7. As you listen to the verses, keep up your slow, deep breathing. Allow God’s Word to sink in and bring quiet your spirit. 

1 John 1:5-7

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

I will read the verse again:

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

For our breath prayer today, we will start with three phrases based on the Scripture. Pray these phrases silently in rhythm with your breathing.

God, you are light.

Cleanse us from sin. 

Make us one.

God, you are light.

Cleanse us from sin. 

Make us one.

For the next few minutes, keep repeating these phrases as you breathe. 

God, you are light.

Cleanse us from sin. 

Make us one.

As you pray, you may find that one of these phrases seems to resonate with you more than the others. Let the other phrases fall away and focus on the one that God seems to be drawing you towards. So you may choose to pray, God you are light.

Or, Cleanse us from sin.

Or, Make us one.

Continue with your chosen phrase, allowing God to draw you deeper into your prayer. If God seems to have you alternate between phrases, that’s perfectly fine. Follow his lead.

Now, ask the Lord if there are other words that he is inviting you to pray. Is there anything he is bringing to your mind? Follow God’s leading and begin to pray your new words or phrase. Or, if you are still drawn to the words you are already praying, continue as you were. Trust the Lord to guide this process.

Take a few more moments with your breath prayer.

Now, move to a time of silence. Imagine you are face to face with Jesus. You may picture him in as much or as little detail as you wish. What emotions are you experiencing as you sit in his presence?

Let Jesus speak to you about his intentions for this prayer time. What is he saying to you with his words? What is he saying to you without words? 

Is there anything you would like to say to him? 

As you spend time with the Lord, how do you sense him bringing his light to your circumstances? How do you sense him inviting you to bring his light to others? What kind of person is he calling you to be during this season?

If you feel led to do so, tell Jesus your intentions to be this person. What is one concrete action you can take this week to become someone who bears Jesus’ light?

Lord, thank you for this time of prayer. You are the source of our every breath. Help us to honor you with our words, thoughts, and actions. With the power of your Spirit, help us to illuminate the darkness in our world.

As you go from here, may you live in the light of Jesus’ love, healing, redemption, reconciliation, and peace. Amen.

Copyright by Carrie Myers, 2020.

Find me on Instagram at @RavishedByLight.

Photo credits: Clear Glass Sphere, Pixabay; Protestors Holding Signs, Photo by Kelly Lacy from Pexels

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Contemplative Reflection for Pentecost

My friends and I at Soul Space have a new guided contemplation up just in time for Pentecost Sunday!

May you have a life-giving encounter with Jesus and the Holy Spirit as you listen to the Scripture (Acts 2:1-21) and use your imagination to enter into a time of reflection and prayer.

Created by Soul Space: Janine Rohrer (writing), Carrie Myers (narration), David Buchs (Original music and sound mixing)

P.S. I’ve been creating guided contemplative prayers every week for our virtual Sunday services at Vineyard One NYC. For those of you who are spiritual directors or prayer leaders, I’m going to start posting those scripts weekly, so stay tuned!

(If I can figure out how, I’ll post the recordings, too, but so far Audacity and I are not friends. Recording the Pentecost script required me to sit in my living room very late at night so noises were at a minimum, doors and windows closed, fan off, with my microphone in a box stuffed with pillows and there was still background noise that I do not personally know how to edit out.)

Find me on Instagram @ravishedbylight.

Find David Buchs at www.sleepwithmusic.com.

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Creature Care: Spiritual Practice of the Month

I had a real-life demonstration of God taking care of the “birds of the air” in our backyard yesterday. A baby blue jay — nearly fully fledged, with soft, downy feathers and its distinctive blue and gray plumage already in – fell out of its nest. On the way down, it got caught in my neighbor’s fence, breaking one of its legs. My neighbor rescued it and put it in a box with grass for bedding.

Somehow, the injured nestling made its way over the fence to my yard, where my seven-year-old took charge of it before we could get it professional help. Every bit the anxious, hovering mother, she badgered me to find out what it ate, then blend some nuts and berries into a bird-friendly smoothie, and show her how to feed it with an eyedropper. She was vigilant through the afternoon until our neighbor, Trish, took the bird inside her house to keep it warm and fed through the night.

This morning, Trish took the chick to the Wild Bird Fund of NYC. I had no idea such a place existed (like most people, I don’t associate wild birds with Manhattan), but they provide medical care and rehabilitation to injured birds and are open seven days a week. From the photos Trish texted, it looks like our baby’s neighbors include a Canadian Goose as well as some other fowl.

Trish’s photos got me to thinking again about God’s promise, in Matthew 6, to care for the birds of the air — and by extension, to care for us even more. Our collective concern for this random baby bird – Trish, my daughter’s, that of other people who helped – also reminds me that God’s care is often contextual and communal, taking place through the right people at the right time partnering their time and resources to bring his love and provision where they’re needed most.

(It also got me wondering why my daughter can hover over a baby bird for hours with an eyedropper, but she can’t help me clean our guinea pig’s cage. Or clean up a dead cockroach without breaking down in hysterics. But those are stories for another time.)

For a spiritual practice for the coming month, I invite you to make a spiritual discipline of caring for one of God’s creatures in his name, as an expression of faith in his care for us, especially the “least of these.” For me, that may something as simple as reminding myself, when I’m trudging down to the basement to fill the guinea pig’s water bottle (or, let’s be real, yelling at one of my kids to do it), that as I provide daily for his needs, so God provides for mine. Such a thankful acknowledgment could turn even pooper-scooping into an act of prayer, much as Brother Lawrence could find continual communion with God over washing dishes.

Honestly, most of us don’t even have to leave the house to practice the discipline of care. Maybe you don’t have a pet. Do you have other “creatures” around? A husband? Kids? A roommate? A sibling? A houseplant? Or, if you need to venture further afield, a neighbor? Someone from your church? Find a way to serve them daily and make it a holy act — or consecrate an act of care you are already doing on a regular basis, whether it’s cooking the bacon, bringing it home, or cleaning up what happens after the bacon is consumed. The important part is not just what you’re doing, but how you do it: mindfully, reflectively, in recognition that God’s care for “the least of these” is a key part of his character and that we love and serve others because he first loved and served us.

Simple steps to follow:

  1. Identify someone or something you already care for or would like to begin caring for, perhaps in a way that you would normally find tedious or onerous.*
  2. Consider whether you will offer care alone or in partnership with others. If with others, complete the remainder of the steps together with them.
  3. Establish (if you haven’t already) a routine. Find a consistent time or times of day when you will carry out your work.
  4. Prayerfully discern how you will make this time holy. Will you say a prayer before, after, or during – perhaps a breath prayer? Is there a scripture you would like to remember while you are working? Will you take a moment to dedicate your task and the person or animal under your care to God? Or will you focus on gratitude to the God who gave you this creature to care for?
  5. Spend some time reflecting – ideally including journaling – on your experience of turning your task into a holy experience. What emotions came up for you? Did you notice any differences in how you experienced your work – in your body, mind, or spirit?
  6. End with thanksgiving.

As we make our offer up our daily caregiving routines to God, let’s trust that he will give us the grace to see every part of life, no matter how humble or ordinary, as imbued with his presence.

* There are many other ways you could envision your service, including partnering with a service organization and others in your sphere to provide more comprehensive care than an individual alone could do: Getting together with a group of friends or a Sunday school class to sponsor a child through World Vision. Taking a stray neighborhood cat to be spayed or neutered at your local ASPCA. Gathering a group to donate money or time to a meal kitchen like Father’s Heart or your equivalent local outreach is. Tithing a little extra to your church’s compassionate care ministry. Making sure to have a dollar handy for the person asking for money on the street corner or the subway. The possibilities are endless.

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Find me on Instagram! @ravishedbylight.

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Imaginative Prayer (Spiritual Practice of the Month)

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Some of the most powerful prayer times I’ve had personally or guided others through have been through the Ignatian practice of Imaginative Prayer. Imaginative Prayer – not surprisingly – refers to the experience of bringing your imagination into the process of reading and praying with Scripture. 

While I was in spiritual direction training, my instructor, Jared, led us through an imaginative prayer on the Gospel story of Jesus silencing the wind and waves. In imaginative prayer, you can picture yourself as a person already in the story, add yourself to the scene as a bystander – even imagine yourself as an inanimate object or a natural force, like the boat or like the storm. There are no limits to how you can interact with the scene in your mind and emotions.

As Jared read through the passage to us, he encouraged us to place ourselves in the scene we were hearing. We were to imagine the feeling of the boat heaving beneath us, feel the gusts of wind and the icy rain pelting down on us, smell and taste the salt air, feel the panic clenching in our stomachs, hear the frenzied shouting of the disciples as they tried to keep the boat from capsizing or breaking apart. 

In my own prayer, I didn’t take on another persona. I was simply me, witnessing the unfolding interaction between Jesus and his disciples. As Jared read the passage again, I watched and heard the scene unfold the second time, I was struck by the disciples’  question to Jesus: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Suddenly, that question became my own, and I found myself saying to Jesus, without planning it in the least, “Lord, don’t you care if I drown?”

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As I spoke those words, I think I realized in a new way how overwhelmed and tired I had been, how I felt pushed and pulled in different directions. I felt like I was drowning amidst the competing demands of my life. In my prayer, I was, like the disciples, reaching out to Jesus for rescue.

And what was Jesus’ response? In my prayer, he did something different than he did in the original Gospel story. Instead of quieting the storm, he took off his cloak, folded it into a pillow, and gestured to me that I should lie down and rest. He was letting me know that, whatever was going on around me, I could be at peace. He would watch over and take care of me.

That interaction with Jesus affected me profoundly at the time and still continues to shape me. That tangible sense of Jesus’s care and provision for me led me to the leap of faith that was leaving my job and unknowingly prepared me for an intense season of parenting a child in crisis. I remember that prayer often and it reminds me to trust and rest. It reminds me that I am safe with the Lord.

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How can you experience Imaginative Prayer for yourself? First, it’s helpful to know that the Gospels and other narrative sections are often the most fruitful places in Scripture to pray imaginatively because they have stories you can enter into. (If you are poetically inclined and respond well to language and imagery, the Psalms and other poetic or prophetic books like Isaiah would also work.)

Once you have your Scripture passage chosen, follow these steps:

  1. Find a comfortable, quiet place. Invite God to be with you and to guide your prayer time.
  2. Read the passage aloud or quietly to yourself.
  3. Read it again. This time, imagine yourself within the scene  – as one of the main people, as a bystander, even as an object or element.
  4. Use all five senses: try to taste, touch, hear, see, smell what is going on. What are you doing? What are others doing?
  5. Bring to your awareness: What emotions or thoughts are coming up?  What do you feel happening in your body? How is God speaking to you through the unfolding scene and your inner and bodily responses?
  6. Is there any action God is inviting you to take or commitment he is inviting you to make?

I hope imaginative prayer becomes another invaluable way for you to connect with God and learn more of his heart for you!

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Photo credits:

Stormy sea: GEORGE DESIPRIS from Pexels

Woman underwater: Life Of Pix from Pexels

 Man praying: Matheus Bertelli from Pexels