In times like these some simple spiritual exercises grow larger than ever in their importance. The exercises serve a single function: to keep us focused on what is truly of value and to keep us aware that we walk in the presence of God.
During the day make it a deliberate act to get “out of yourself” and pay attention to how someone else is doing. If someone asks your help, make the effort to do something to assist them. Self-absorption is a danger at any time, but all the more in times like these. You have to do something to break out of it into concern, connection and collaboration with others.
At least once a day withdraw to a place where you can be by yourself without interruption for a few moments of silence before God. Breathe in deeply. Calm yourself. Put out of your head your list of things to do and the flood of thoughts about what has been going on around you. Take a moment and tell God exactly what you are feeling. Lay yourself open to God and entrust God with what is going on inside you. Now, simply remain in silence for three to five minutes. Stopping and becoming still allows God to catch up with you. Silence allows you to regain the awareness that He has and that you are not alone.
When returning home in the evening, after you park the car in the driveway or garage, remain in your car for a few moment before you go into the house.
Sit quietly a moment, and answer these questions to yourself and to Christ:
What am I still carrying in my head from the day?
How much of this do I want to bring into the house with me?
If I do, who do I want to share it with, and when?
If your are married or live in community, answer these question:
Who is waiting for me inside the house?
How do I want to meet them?
What is the first thing I want to say?
What is the first thing I want to do?
Ask the Lord to walk into your home with you. This spiritual exercise allows God to break up the press of activity from your day – before it steals your evening, and pushes over and bruises the people you care about the most.
Tuck your younger children in at bed time and say some brief words of blessing over them. Don’t let everyone just drift off to bed by themselves. Even with your older children, have a brief word before they head off to their room. If you are single, don’t let the evening pass without calling a friend – just to see how the day went. And don’t go to bed without a moment reading the Scriptures and praying for them.
Christians should know how to weather the times with their Faith. In these times our Faith enables us to bring some essential things to the service of our nation and our fellow citizens – things that come from Faith: 1) a knowledge of where to place our feet so as to stand on solid ground and keep our balance (the conviction that God is not distant, but present, and that God is as work for the salvation of all – He will make a way forward for those ready to move; 2) a sharp sense of what really is of value, and therefore what we need to work to preserve and develop and build to secure; 3) the ability to remain vitally concerned about someone other than ourselves; 4) the ability to see the talent and gifts in others and to extend our mind and hands to them in collaborative work; 5) the capacity to sacrifice self to attain a larger good. The fruit of genuine religious Faith should be the ability to believe: in others, and in the possibilities that life presents us. This is more than just optimism, because the root and strength of this believing is in a living relationship with God.
People of Faith, it’s time for us to shine!
