Finding God is All Things was a core theme for Ignatius. His belief was that God is always at work and to be found in the events and experiences of the day (John 5:17).
God is at work in our day and in its events as well. Our experience is that for most of us most of the time, we are too busy, our environment is too noisy and we are distracted. Silence is scarce. Focus is difficult. Awareness and discernment are at a premium.
So . . . instead of finding God in all things, we miss His Work and His Presence. We therefore the opportunity for constant course correction to be aligned with His Work.
Enter the Daily Examen...
For Ignatius, the Daily Examen was a way to find God, to pay attention to HIs activity and then to keep in step with the leading of God's Spirit (Galatians 5:25). To be sure, Ignatius had many additional tools to offer those wishing to grow in their ability to discern God's leading, but the Examen is at the heart of his way.
I have been a practitioner of the Examen for many years. This sustained practice eventually led me into another experience. As time (the years) went by and my skills in awareness and discernment grew, I began to experience what Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection called - The Practice of the Presence of God.
I no longer had to wait until the end of the day Examen to discover God's Presence and Work, I began to notice it "in the moment." I was able to make course adjustments "on the spot" due to that awareness. However, I still do the Examen and find it a valuable spiritual pathway.
The part of the Examen I am describing today is what is known as the review of the day and it is at the heart of the Examen.
When I first began to do the Examen in 1999 (and I was in very rough spiritual shape) I would do it late at night. I would get out my journal and begin to make a list of all that had happened to me that day. Events, situations, encounters, conversations, activities, AND my inner emotional engagements with all those things. Sometimes I had a list of 35 or 30 "items" on my list.
Then I would begin to reflect on many of those items, walking through them in sequence. I would think through what happened, how did I respond, how did I feel, why did I feel that. I was using the events of the day to go deep below the water line of my life. As I did this day after day, as you can guess, I began to notice patterns of interior issues. At that time, there was a lot of darkness. My inner world was messy and mysterious and frankly - confusing. It took a lot of time to sort it out. But the Examen was the tool by which that exploration took place.
NOTE: I wish I were an artist and could illustrate my day, that would be beautiful. I had to be satisfied with writing about it.)
Today, now about ten years later, I no longer write down that many experiences of a particular day. I am now more selective and usually can list, with just a little thought, the more significant things I should pay attention to.
Here is the list I made last night of some important events of my day (Thursday). [Note - I wrote this post Friday morning and set it to publish on Sunday.]
(1) My Spiritual Friendship group, which was a simply profound time of three of us engaging in this spiritual discipline. God showed up, insights were beautiful, God's work was wonderful. Lots of details and things to follow up on (and in my journal I did just that).
(2) A strategic meeting with a global worker about future partnerships. (God - what are you inviting us into?) We need discernment.
(3) A long email which took me about an hour to compose and rewrite, and edit. It was about an extremely important partnership and it had loads of implications. I didn't send it. I felt I should sit on it longer. That night I processed - what is going on?
(4) Working on a proposal for another leader about an opportunity. (great stuff... again, how are you leading in this?)
(5) A phone conversation with a person who is hurting.
(6) A few hours of being with a good number of people who are a part of a mid-size community which I lead. As a community, we volunteered to do a lot of the work in preparing and serving a Thanksgiving Dinner for an inner city sister church. Wow... lots of smaller experiences during that time. What was I feeling? What was going on?
(7) A few minutes with the Leading Edge team and its trainers and participants. I had strong feelings of consolation and joy as I was with them.
(8) And then to finish the day, two hours with an extraordinary group of missional leaders who have gathered for a conference... hearing three plenary sessions.
This is what I wrote down in my journal. Then I began to reflect, pray and explore these experiences and their meaning... and above all - where is God and what is He up to in and through these experiences.
In the moment I was also paying attention to God's work, but at the end of the day, in my Examen, I had more focused time to attend to these things and to wonder about the patterns weaving through them. I found some things that I did not see "in the moments" as they were happening.
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For many years, the Examen was the primary pathway for me to discover and move further in to God's Presence and Work.
Now, it is an Enhancement pathway. I do not practice it with the frequency I once did. In part, that is due to the fact that much of my day is a living Examen.
Still, I find it useful (often) to do a more focused end of day Examen. Sometimes I will do an end of week Examen.
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For this week, I recommend that you mainly practice this review. Do a very brief walk through of the previous parts of the Examen... enough to become centered and ready, but give this part the majority of your time. I recommend that you journal this process. Journaling is not required, but it sure is helpful for focused attention. Writing both focuses the attention and it slows the thinking. It creates space for the Spirit of God to imprint your mind and heart.
Write down ten or twenty or as many as is useful items from your day.
After you have your list, look them over and do an initial selection of which ones seem most important and most worthy of reflection.
Now, start to reflect. I use a set of questions to launch this reflection. Use these questions, or ones similar.
God what were you doing as this ____________ was taking place?
God what were you saying to me about __________ but I missed it in the moment?
God what did you want me to do about _________ but I missed it in the moment?
God what do you want me to see and hear now about ________________ ?
God what do you want me to learn and to do about ____________ ?
These questions are not always directly and obviously answered. On the other hand, you will be pleasantly surprised at the spiritual insights you begin to discover as you ask them.
Ask... listen.. reflect... write... pray... wait... and continue to move in and out of those things.
Grace and Discernment...
Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com
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