One of the biggest struggles I face is looking for God’s presence throughout my day. His presence is obvious to me at church on Sunday, or when I’m immersed in a book about faith, or listening to a religious podcast while doing work around the house; but it’s harder for me when I am not consciously aware of His wondrous company during my everyday life.
I began to address this issue when I was introduced to the Examen prayer by one of the books I was reading. It involves examining your day and taking notice of the moments when you felt God’s presence. Then you run through your day again, only this time you look at the times you did not feel God’s presence. The final step is to look towards the future and find ways to increase times that God enters your thoughts and awareness throughout the day.
By doing this each night for a week or so, I discovered the areas of my life that were lacking in time spent acknowledging God’s being with me. So I found a few ways to change my outlook on some of my daily activities to incorporate being with God.
When my siblings and I were younger, our mom taught us that when we were doing not so fun chores like pulling weeds or picking green beans in the hot Ohio summer sun, we should offer up our labors to the souls in purgatory, or for someone we knew who was ill.
So I took this concept and worked to apply it to my day. Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” Working for the Lord and offering up my toils to those in need helped me to increase the occasions I spent serving God.
As an avid runner, I found that it was fruitful to include God on my runs as well. With a simple Google search, I found numerous prayers for runners that ask God to be with them in every stride and to serve Him through running. Excluding days below thirty degrees, my co-worker and I try to run a few mornings every week before work, so I began to say a few of these prayers before I would leave to run. My favorite one is “Running to Make God Smile” by Duane Lee. I was excited that something as simple as running, which brings me joy, also brings me closer to God.
There are countless other ways to keep God present in your day to day life, and numerous opportunities to serve Him. The possibilities of making your relationship and servitude toward God are endless. I invite you to practice the Examen for a week and find what areas in your life could use a sprinkle of God thrown in. I mentally and emotionally experienced a change in my life by welcoming God’s companionship into my consciousness outside of church on Sunday, and it is my hope that you can experience this too.
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