Sleeping with Bread: Monday, March 16th

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Monday, March 16th

Oh, I should be doing an image search for something Irish-y but I just don't have the initiative tonight.

But hey, I am actually getting this post up on time.

Hurray for me! Hurray for me!

(And I'm obviously a little slap happy, too!)

It has been quite a week. I continue to get nothing at all done at a remarkable pace. Well, not nothing, but not anything near the level of efficiency I should be working at. I did make a momentous decision. No graduation this May. It was not going to happen successfully, anyway, so I am dropping my Master's project. I'll pick it back up in in the fall and plan on graduating in December, which is really January due to the way they schedule commencement.

So. I am disappointed. But relieved. It is the wiser choice. Probably made more emotional by my bodies increasing unwillingness to adjust to the time change. I think there needs to be some major petition to END THE TIME CHANGE.

Okay. Enough complaining.

How are you guys? Although I am abstaining from blogging, Facebook, and Twitter for Lent, I do get comments emailed to me. How was this winter for you? Are you looking forward to Spring? Ready for some flowers in your life?

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

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

2 comments:

Pamela said...: Hi Mary-LUE! This winter has been especially brutal. At least it feels that way so I am definitely looking forward to Spring! Thank you for keeping up the Sleeping With Bread posts each week. I appreciate this prompt to reflect back on the previous week.; March 16, 2009 8:57 PM
ashley said...: Mary-LUE: That's a monumental decision to postpone graduating, but I commend you on having the forsight to not harm yourself or your loved ones in trying to accomplish the goal. I would sign your petition to stop the time change. I'm ready for spring and trying to be optimistic this week.
God bless.; March 17, 2009 8:24 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!