Perceive

The goodness of earth and sky and sea I was once meditating on the first chapter of Genesis, those opening verses of the Bible that survey the splendor of creation. These verses are not science in the Modern sense of the word. Rather, they’re a witness to the most sublime science: the science of prayer. They’re an invitation to curve the heart outward, opening to the Beloved in gratitude, awe, and surrender. They’re a hymn of praise to the goodness of earth and sky and sea, and all that is in them.

At the end of this grand hymn stand the words, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Genesis 1.31). I read them and immediately there arose within me another voice, nearly shouting: “But you say, it’s never good enough!”

“Never good enough.” That’s how I lived my life. I’d grown up believing that everything could stand at least a little improvement. And that belief, that view of the world, fed the restless life I was living.

But God called the world and everything in it good.

So who am I to contradict God’s own verdict?

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Goodness

The goodness of earth and sky and sea The way you perceive the world affects the way you live within it. Many people see the world as a dangerous, bad, even evil place. They live with fear and carry hostility and suspicion with them wherever they go.

If you see the world as a dangerous place, a dangerous place it will be. Life will be a struggle, and from the moment you rise each day you’ll find yourself pitched into a battle. The struggle might energize you. You might find pleasure in the competition, the fight, the need to win, to be right or better or wealthier than others. There’s no question that such a view of the world motivates. But there’s also plenty of evidence that viewing the world as dangerous, bad, or evil takes a toll on you—on your relationships, your body, your spirit. Such a view feeds the wars, economic woes, and the environmental troubles we’re facing on this planet.

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Welcome

I welcome to my life When you rise and welcome the day, entering it with intention and prayer, you’re not calling the day to yourself. You have no power to do that. Instead, you’re bringing yourself to the day. You’re praying for power to enter the coming day alert and alive and active—not passive, dull, unconscious.

When you whisper the words, “I welcome to my life,” you’re bending your life open again. Yesterday you did things, said things, heard things, and saw things that frightened or angered, excited or enticed you. To some degree, you went to bed worried or wounded, upset or obsessed. And today you awakened lost in your own little world, absorbed in yourself—curved in upon yourself.

But when you welcome the day, you reverse the curvature of sin. You bend yourself out toward God again. There’s still plenty to worry about. The responsibilities you face are still waiting for you. Trouble or pain will pester you again. And it’s likely that you’ll forget God and get all curved in upon yourself. No worries. Just place yourself in this welcoming posture again. Open rather than closed. Your heart curved toward God, ready to receive.

There’s more goodness coming toward you than you have eyes to see.

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Arise

As I rise and embrace the gift of this new day The way you greet the day matters. Your first lucid moments set the course for what follows. Set that course with intention, through a simple prayer, and you’ll be okay. The prayer needn’t be long, but it ought to be clear. In fact, the simpler, briefer, and more focused it is, the better.

For much of your life you’ve let the day start you. Your alarm wakens you, and you stumble out of bed. You start the coffee or a shower. A steady stream of thoughts flows through your head. You fetch the newspaper, turn on music or the TV. Maybe you check your email or head off to the gym. The mental stream swells, and as it does, your body and spirit are pulled along with it. Tension and stress tug at your neck and shoulders, the thought-stream nags at you, demanding more from your body than your body wants to give. So you pump a little more caffeine into your veins or jot another note on your to-do list. These thoughts—largely unexamined—have yanked you into a river whose direction you control far less than you realize.

But if you rise and announce your intention to greet with gladness the day God’s given you—if you breathe from the deep center within you where Christ dwells, if you feel the firmness of the earth beneath you, if you open your arms in a gesture of welcome and arrest those thoughts for just a moment, if you say with purpose, “I rise and embrace the gift of this new day,” then you’ll have altered the course of your personal history, you’ll have announced your intention to go against the stream—or at least no longer to follow blindly when you choose for a time to follow where it leads.

So, rise and embrace the gift of this new day. Arouse your spirit. Embrace the day, and join up with God. The moment of your rising and what you do with it has the power to change everything.

For more meditations on the Daily Guide/Rule of Life, click on the blog category, "Daily Guide/Rule of Life"

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The mixed life

Ours is a “Mixed Life.” We mix the active life and the contemplative life, faithful to both prayer and running errands, silence and participating in meetings, solitude and chaotic work places, meditation and minding the housework. And as we walk through our days, we slowly saunter the land that’s right beneath our feet, knowing all around us is holy. But without some kind of regula—a Daily Guide or model or pattern for our lives—I don’t think such a life is possible for us uncloistered saints.

Click here to read my Daily Guide.