My post is intended to focus on two aspects. First, it is nice to hope, and that is the first step. Recognizing what it is you desire. The next step would be to plan. That's right. In order to succeed in a wish, planning is vital. It isn't enough to simply hope, or resolve to change. Giving myself a specific plan lays out how I will work toward that goal. In this case, though, my goal is not to come to an end at Lent, but to have allowed myself to live that change beyond Easter.
I would love to just hope for a clean house. But, unless I plan and then follow my plan, it can't happen. As much as I would hope that after all these years my house would just figure out what I want and stay that way, it won't. It can't. But, I can!
My plan this year is to begin Lent with remembering the letters "CPR" ... in my case, "Continual Prayerful Respiration." Or, in other words, "praying attention" to what I am doing. By the conclusion of Lent, my goal is be able to alter the word continual to continuous. The difference being that continual is an event that is repeated with regularity and frequency. Continuous is to extend without interruption or cessation.
How am I going to do this? A prayer that Marion posted to our Little Way list quite a while ago, (and I saw circulating on the internet without mention of her as author) will be my guide. For me it will be each shirt I iron, I'll offer a prayer for the person it belongs to. For each dish I wash, I'll offer a prayer of thanks to the farmers who grew our food, the grocers who provided a way for us to purchase, the energy companies for heat to cook it, the easy access to fresh water we enjoy, etc. For each time I back out of my garage, and return home, I'll offer a prayer for our friends in Peru who don't have security, for my fellow drivers on the road, for safe driving on my part, etc. The sacrament of the present moment will very much be what I will attentively seek. by living in the here and now, offering as I progress through my day. And it will be offering not just when I am doing a chore. It will involve praying for the person I'm speaking to (whether by phone, or email.) It will include offering up my discomfort at night as I'm moving toward menopause. It will include remembering to pray for my eldest daughter and her fiance when I touch my wedding band. All those little, attentive ways to lift up my ordinary day and actions toward heaven, asking Mother Mary and the saints to intercede for me, my guardian angel to protect me, and for God to guide me and bless those I pray for.
Just as CPR can be a life saving measure, I seek out my spiritual CPR to not only respire, or breathe out my prayers to God, but to receive the Holy Spirit respiring and breathing His grace into my soul, and guiding my thoughts, words, actions, chores, free-time, conversations, worship, everything in return.
May your first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday, be a positive step on your own journey toward sanctity.
Yvonne --
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