Sleeping with Bread: Monday, April 13th

Monday, April 13, 2009

Monday, April 13th

I am so sorry! I forgot to get this post up last night. I will say that I was home sick yesterday. I think I had a touch (just a touch) of food poisoning--not enough to be truly, truly miserable, just enough to not feel up to doing anything else. And I had to miss church! On Easter!

This week I am looking at all I have to do in the next six weeks. I just updated my Facebook status to say that I had 12 weeks worth of work to do. That may be an exaggeration, but it certainly feels like it. This morning, I feel like I can do it--but some days I feel like it just isn't going to happen.

I did get some good incentive over the weekend. I probably shouldn't talk about it yet. Let's just say that in order for some things to take place, I have to get my course work finished.

But enough about me...

What about you guys? Did you celebrate Easter? Do you celebrate Easter? Did you spend time with family? C'mon... spill...

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

3 comments:

Pamela said...: Hi, Mary-LUE! I'm sorry to hear you weren't feeling well yesterday. You sound like a very busy woman so I'm sending thoughts and prayers of strength and peace!

Our Easter was pretty quiet which was fine with me. Only a few of us got together since the entire clan is getting together next Saturday.

Have a fantastic week!; April 13, 2009 10:25 AM
Tara Lamont said...: Feel better soon Mary Lue - what bad timing for the holiday.
We had a hectic church morning and a family dinner with too much food...; April 13, 2009 2:27 PM
Mel said...: Incentive is a good thing, especially when the pile seems bigger than me.
I'll hope for good things and smooth sailing with that 12 weeks worth of 'stuff'.
At least you won't be bored? ;-)

It's been a peace-filled Passover, ty. Just what the doctor ordered!

*hugs*; April 14, 2009 4:15 AM

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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!