Sleeping with Bread: D'oh! Wednesday, April 28th

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

D'oh! Wednesday, April 28th

**Insert look of chagrin here**

Well, Ms. Tara is off getting some exciting new education under her belt and I was supposed to do this week's post. There have been many, many distractions, though. The biggest distraction--well, it trivializes it to call it a distraction--was a very painful journey some friends of mine have been on. They lost their little boy this week. He was born too early. He had a serious heart defect. For the last 10 days, our church community has been praying for them and their little boy. Last night, he died in their arms.

In the midst of all this, my daughter turned 10 today. We had planned a birthday party for her today after school. There was no reason to move it, but it was odd to be hosting a party and having my friend's in the back of my mind.

I am grateful for the time they did have with their little boy. I am also grateful for the 10 years I have had with my daughter and the almost 18 years I have had with my son.

As I close, I think about the spirit of this blog... acknowledging that which causes desolation in our life and that which gives us consolation. Tonight, I pray for my friends in the midst of their desolation and pray for the Lord to be with them to console them.

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:

Tara Lamont said...: Mary,
You and your friends are in my prayers. I'm sending love you way in this time of loss. It is my prayer that you are consoled in this moment.; May 02, 2010 9:13 PM

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!