Prayer of Examen: A Daily Pause

Pause and reflect on the past 24 hours with intentionality and grace, you'll learn how to identify and cherish moments of both consolation and desolation—those times you felt God's presence and joy as well as when you felt disconnected or far from God. 

This practice is designed to help you feel God's presence in the everyday moments of life, transforming both your highs and lows into meaningful prayer and reflection. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hi, this is Whitney and you're listening to Exploring Peace Meditations. Before we begin, I want to invite you to settle into your space by turning off any distractions, closing the door, taking a moment to simply be with God where you are. Taking a moment to simply be with God where you are Now. Check in with your body. Would you like to be seated, standing, would you like to walk, move, stretch as you settle into your body? I'd like to remind you that you can connect with this community of listeners and supporters at ExploringPeacecom slash community, and you can find me and my books and other resources at WhitneyRSimpsoncom. I'm so honored that you're journeying with us in this way. Today's practice is the prayer of examine. I invite you into this daily pause. Take a moment, as you pause now to soften your eyes, if that feels safe, to take a deep breath, to relax your shoulders, to welcome a pause with God amidst your ordinary, everyday life. Creator, god, we pause in gratitude for this day and for your gift of presence and journeying with us in all that we do. As we pause now, help us recognize you, see, you notice, you feel, you sense you. You, since you Now take a moment to recall the past 24 hours, the last day or so of your life. Bring to mind whatever's occurred, recall the people, the encounters, the tasks, the experiences. And now I invite you to ponder a moment in which you felt very close to God. We often call this consolation a moment where you felt alive, connected to God or at peace in your spirit. When did you feel God's joy or love? When did you notice fulfillment or purpose? Take a moment in the quiet and be open to one or more moments of consolation in the past day. When did you struggle? When did you feel distant from God? We often call this desolation. There might be a challenging moment or a place when you were not at your best. You are frustrated, disconnected from God, yourself or others. When did you close yourself off to God's presence in the past day? This may not be as easy to recall, but take a moment, pause and Hold space in the quiet for any moments of tension, frustration, sadness, distance from God. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 5:42

I invite you now to pause and ponder a moment of gratitude, a person, a situation, a moment for which you are grateful from the past day. This may be something you've already pondered or noticed or reflected upon, or it might just pop into your mind now. What are you grateful for from this past day? Will you pause with that now and hold? Bring before God a prayer from this past day? There may be someone, something or some situation upon your heart today.

Speaker 1: 7:10

Take a moment and offer a very specific prayer moment and offer a very specific prayer Something, someone that's touched you in the past 24 hours, that's on your heart and needs a moment of prayer. What do you want to lift up before God in this time? Take a full breath in… and a long breath out… out. Notice how your body feels in this moment. Notice how your heart feels in this moment. Let us close our prayer together.

Speaker 1: 8:36

God, we thank you for living with us each day, for being in our highs and our lows, for helping us cultivate gratitude and for offering us the gift of prayer that we can draw close to you, that we can talk to you, that we can listen for you. Thank you, god. Thank you, god, for this day. Be with us in the day to come that we may notice the moments in which we feel close to you, the moments in which we feel close to you, the moments in which we feel far away. Help us in the next 24 hours to feel and cultivate the gift of gratitude and remind us that you are as close as our breath, that we can talk and pray and be with you anytime and always. Thank you for that gift. In Christ's name, we pray Amen. Thank you for exploring the gift of God's peace with me. Until next time, may God's peace with me you.