A few years ago, I started praying the Examen every evening before going to bed. It’s a prayer practice that was pioneered by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in his compilation, The Spiritual Exercises. It involves, among other things, reflecting on the events of your day and noticing where you felt God’s presence and action in order to discern God’s will for you.
I am routinely amazed by how much of my day I skim over without much consideration until I take the time to pray the Examen—and then my day feels so much richer and fuller than it did moment by moment. I am also regularly surprised by how much of my day is a surprise. I usually start my day thinking that I have it pretty planned out, but at the end, when I think about it, so much happened that I didn’t expect. Mostly little things, but still meaningful ones.
Franciscan priest Richard Rohr wrote, “God comes to you disguised as your life.” That means the big dramatic events, of course, but it’s God in the subtle stirrings of the small stuff that has captured my attention in the Examen. What does tomorrow hold? The Son of Man coming in the clouds? Maybe. All I know is I’m ready to find Him in the minutiae of tender branches and sprouting leaves.