awakening, day 4

Come to Stillness:

Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:

Lord, awaken me, you whose love burns beyond the stars; light the flame of my lantern that I may always burn with love. (A Traveler Toward the Dawn by John Eagan)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 28

Scripture for the Day: 2 Kings 6:8-23

Reading for Reflection:

Those who have shaken off sleep eventually become all awake within.

                                                              ~Clement of Alexandria

     Meditation is almost all contained in this one idea: the idea of awakening our interior self and attuning ourselves inwardly to the Holy Spirit, so that we will be able to respond to His grace.  In prayer, over the years, we must allow our interior perceptivity to be refined and purified.  We must attune ourselves to unexpected movements of grace, which do not fit our own preconceived ideas of the spiritual life at all, and which in no way flatter our own ambitious aspirations. (Spiritual Direction and Meditation by Thomas Merton)

contemplation  by Jim Branch

what is this that stirs within?

willing to guide if I will listen

a faint whisper                                     yet not

 

an almost imperceptible knowing

awakened from a sleep

                in which One was calling softly

knowing—but not sure how

hearing—but not sure when

dreaming?

as a soft voice in a sleeping child’s ear

knowing to the depths what was whispered

           and the delight of the Whisperer

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Crown Him With Many Crowns

Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne.
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of love, behold his hands and side,
those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,
but downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.

Closing Prayer:
O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things. The world has been too much with me. You have been here and I knew it not. I have been blind to Your presence. Open my eyes that I may behold You in and around me. For Christ’s sake, Amen. (The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer)