Sleeping with Bread: Monday, February 16th

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Monday, February 16th

Hey look at me! I'm actually posting before Monday morning. (Sometimes it is the small accomplishments that get you through the day!)

I hope you all enjoyed Valentine's day. I have to be honest and say that Paul and I did not celebrate. We have sooooo many celebrations that begin in November with my birthday, Christmas in December, our anniversary in January, and Valentine's day is followed by Paul's birthday. Depending on the year, we sometimes just don't have the energy or interest in another celebration. Hopefully we are appreciating each other every day. (No one laugh at that last bit. We do try!)

Okay... let's get down to the business of Sleeping with Bread. I'm looking forward to hearing from you all!

Although the examen is a Christian practice, I would hope that anyone who has something to share would feel welcome here. Also, if you don't have your own blog and would like to participate, share your bread in the comments. To holding on to what gives life,

Mary-LUE

1 comment:

Pamela said...: Ryan and I didn't celebrate Valentine's Day either but it was still a lovely weekend. You're right in that we should be showing our appreciation every day!; February 16, 2009 3:56 AM

Post a Comment

What is Sleeping with Bread?

During the bombing raids of WWII, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, "Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow." (Linn, Dennis et al, Sleeping With Bread, p.l)

These are the beginning words of a book that introduced me to a practice called the examen. The orphans held on to what nourished them and were thus able to sleep peacefully at night. The examen, based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, helps a person hold onto what spiritually nourishes him by looking at what is giving him consolation in his life or causing him desolation. It allows someone to express his gratitude to God for the good stuff and turn to him for solace for the bad stuff. It is quite simple. You simply ask yourself, in the last day/week/month what gave me consolation and what caused me desolation.

How do you do it?

Sleeping with Bread is a Monday meme. You can participate in one of two ways: 1) Pick one of the above examen question sets and answer it in the comments section of my SWB post; or, 2) Create your own Sleeping with Bread post. You are welcome to right click on the Sleeping with Bread button and save it to your own computer before uploading into your post. Then, make sure you come back and put the link to your post in the automated Mr. Linky form at the end of the current SWB post. I hope you will join me and my fellow bakers as we Sleep with Bread on Mondays!