Sleeping with Bread: May freedom be the place you reside

Monday, September 14, 2009

May freedom be the place you reside

Image found at Flicker.
All this week I've been bumping into statements concerning freedom. Even in my daily reading in Sacred Space, (not that I get to it EVERY day), freedom was the overarching theme for the week.

Psalm 119:45
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

Isaiah 61:1
[ The Year of the LORD's Favor ] The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,...

Romans 8:21
that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

So many times, I find myself so tied up in the circumstances and stuff of life that I live as if I've never know or truly understood freedom. How silly, when in truth I'm surrounded by it.

As you think back to this past week, where and when were you aware of freedom? Where did you feel the most free? How, going into a new week, will you look for freedom and live in it?

Regards,
Lamont

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. ~Napoleon Bonaparte

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.

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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!