Noticing

From a Word from Becky, my monthly newsletter to my readers

Dear friends,  

One of the many gifts Ignatian spirituality has given me is learning to pause and notice what is before me. That may sound simple, but I know that noticing is not always easy. 

Like many of you, I can spend a lot of time thinking about what comes next. The next project. The next responsibility. The next decision. The next season. I know that God is with me as I ponder and ream of the future.  Yet, my desire to look ahead can sometimes distract me from recognizing God’s presence with me here and now.    

Right now, I find myself back in a season of writing.  I turned one manuscript in on April 1st (I’ll share more on this one soon!). I spent part of my summer months editing drafts of that completed manuscript. The other part of my summer has been spent working on my next book due October 1st, which focuses on the Prayer of Consideration. Writing on this theme, I’ve found myself returning again and again to a simple question: 

What has my attention right now? 

Sometimes it is something beautiful, like a sunset painting the sky over Baton Rouge or a laugh shared around the dinner table with Chris, Brady, Abby, and Mary. Other times it is a conversation I can’t stop thinking about, a concern I carry into prayer, a task before me at work, or a desire stirring quietly within me.   

Earlier in August, what had my attention was moving our Brady back to college and considering in awe the young adult man he has become. When I returned home, my attention was on his empty room and the quieter home without his extraverted energy. In the middle of this, I am also paying attention to the multiple conversations with Abby about her college application process and with Mary about her hopes of 7th grade.   

The Prayer of Consideration begins by simply noticing these things. 

Jesus did this all the time. He noticed seeds, birds, wildflowers, fishermen, vineyards, children, and even a widow placing coins into the temple treasury. He paid attention to what was before him and invited others to do the same. Through these ordinary realities, Jesus helped people encounter God. 

Perhaps the same invitation is being extended to us. What if the thing capturing your attention today is not a distraction from prayer but an invitation into prayer? What if God is waiting for you there, in what has your attention? 

As August comes to a close, I invite you to pause for a few moments and notice. What has your attention? Bring it to God. Reflect on it. Speak with God about it. Then listen for how God might invite you to respond. You may discover that God has been speaking through the ordinary moments of your life all along. 

May you find help and hope in the Prayer of Consideration as I have all summer.  Know I am praying for you and with you as you consider all that is before you!  

Peace, 

Becky 

 P.S. For anyone who has a child or loved one on your heart, I offer you this resource again that I wrote last year when we moved our son to college. You can download it and pray with it here.   Prayer to Surrender.