Today is a day of rest. I will be reading 1 John, praying, cooking a ham and crafting. We have been reading 1 John as part of our family Bible reading in the evenings so I'll read that start to finish today. I like reading chunks of the Bible at a time. It's so much easier to understand the meaning when you have all the context. I was able to plan out some projects and get a few things done like cutting and pinning. So today, I should whiz through several things.
I also need to journal my thoughts through the Daily Examen. I have Prayers/Bible Study in my scheduler. But I often check it off for our family prayer and Bible study time. I need to divide out my spiritual goals so that I don't tend to forget the Daily Examen.
I really love St Ignatius of Loyola. His simple premise of following in Jesus' footsteps led to the founding of The Company of Jesus or the Jesuit priests. He led the Counter Reformation and brought many back to the Church. The Daily Examen is an opportunity to look over our day and recognize where God was inviting us to unite our actions with His will. And noting our response or lack or response to it.
It's not particularly an easy task. It's so much easier to look over the day and say, "Well, I didn't do everything right but the good outweighed the bad." But it doesn't work that way. God doesn't want us to be holy a little more than 50% of the time. He is the perfect parent and wants nothing less than the best from His children.
So while looking over the dark, flabby parts of our spiritual lives is about as pleasant as a full length mirror to a mid-thirties mom to whom gravity and time have left it's mark, it is a valuable spiritiual exercise. If we acknowledge where we fall short even if it's a seemingly minor thing, then we are inviting the Holy Spirit to show us how we can do better. We can make goals towards eliminating the temptations to sin. We can look for spiritually healthy exercises to do instead.
Enjoy this Lord's Day!
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