Reflection - What shape is your life?

It is always good to stop and take some time to look at what is happening, and to celebrate and enjoy it.

Church anniversaries, professional annual appraisals, Ofsted inspections in schools; they are all, in their different ways, forms of looking at what is going on, and trying to make sense of it, asking whether what we are doing and how we are investing our energy is in line with our values and aims.

But it is not only institutions or communities that need to do this. Taking time to look at our own lives and asking what is happening is a formative part of Christian discipleship. There is an old tradition of prayer known as the examen, which offers a structure for doing this. It follows a very simple pattern; setting aside a short time, which starts with an acknowledgement of being in the presence of God. In that context, an individual then looks back at the last period of time; day, week, month, year, and thanks God for specific gifts, as concretely as possible. Having said thank you, and asking for the leading of the Spirit, it is then time to look at how one has been living; patterns, events and reactions. Questions to ask at this point include where have I been aware of and acting with God’s presence, and where have I been resisting. Where have I been open to meet God in the world and in others, and where have I chosen to be isolated. The point of this is not to blame or to praise ourselves, but to notice. Having done this, there is opportunity to say thank you for the times when love and openness have shaped us, and to express sorrow for the times when we have failed to live that way. The exercise ends with a time of offering ourselves more fully to God, and thanking God for God’s self-offering to us.

Such a discipline of prayer can be a helpful point of growth, allowing us to explore more of who we are in God, and of what God is doing in us. It is not about filling in a checklist, or ticking off a series of tasks. It is about taking a few moments to reflect, instead of only rushing forward. There are days – and indeed more than days, when it can be hard to see what the true shape our lives are, when there is just one thing after another, and no time to breathe. And in such situations, it can feel as if we never achieve anything, or even finish anything. This leaves us feeling stressed and distressed; unsure of the value of what we do, and perhaps even of who we are. Such a pattern of prayer, five minutes at the end of a day, or ten minutes on a Sunday before a service, can help us grasp some of the important features of our lives, and recognise the presence of God in them. That kind of recognition gives shape, and energy, and the ability to work with what is going on – and that leads to a freedom and a trust which is one of the gifts of a life of faith.

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