Sleeping with Bread: Being out of touch gives some unexpected grace

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Being out of touch gives some unexpected grace

Sorry for the day lateness of this host post, but I spent a few days out of town and where I was staying the internet access was spotty at best, so I opted on doing the post on Tuesday instead of struggling with it.

There are times that being out of touch can be a blessing and a frustration, and for the most part being disconnected from the communicative norms of life usually allows for some unexpected space and time to simply live life. In light of this space, I began wondering this week about how we handle to unexpected spaces that life sometimes throw our way. I don't know about you, but I like to plan things to do and places to go, and sometimes the world and circumstances don't cooperate with what I had laid out. Sometimes I handle these disruptions gracefully, and other times not so much.

In light of Sleeping with bread this week, what areas of unexpected space happened in your life this week? Were you able to find the bread to hold on to and the grace to let go of the not so gracefully handled ones?

Where did you experience grace this week? Where did you need to ask for it? Grace is a beautiful gift, if only we allow ourselves the space and time to receive it.
Below is a video of Mother Theresa accompanied by the song Grace by U2...
Please leave your blog links in the comments this week as I'm still working on figuring out Mr. Linky. Thanks for the grace!

Peace,
Lamont

Lyrics to the song Grace by U2

Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace...
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that, changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma, karma
She travels outside... of karma

When she goes to work, you can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace...
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings...
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty in everything

4 comments:

Mel said...: Oh, I loved the video....and I appreciate the questions--ones I'll have to go back to ask myself.

My whole 'being upright, breathing and on the right side of the grass' is about being graced.
I know I'm graced--day in, day out, over and over again.

My G-d is an awesome G-d.; August 12, 2009 4:48 PM
Tara Lamont said...: Thank you Mel for reading and writing...have a great bread week.; August 12, 2009 11:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Lamont: Loved the video...

I apologize for not getting here until this late date myself. I already have Monday's post written (as I normally do my post on Friday) and will be back then.

Speaking of being out of touch, this weekend I will be going for a visit to a monastery as I become an oblate there. I am looking forward to this "expected space." :) See you and the rest of the ladies on Monday; August 14, 2009 11:16 AM
Tara Lamont said...: Unfinished person - Thank you for stopping in. I hope your weekend of quiet is all you need. Till Monday -
Lamont; August 15, 2009 9:12 PM

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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!