Welcome,
I'm Rod Jans,
A trained spiritual director,
Retreat leader,
And coach.
Wherever you are right now,
Whatever's brought you to this moment,
Know this,
You're exactly where you're meant to be.
As we get started,
Take a deep breath in and hold it for a few seconds.
And gently release.
Let's do it again.
Take a long,
Slow inhale through your nose,
Hold it,
And easily exhale through your mouth.
Now just let your breath flow naturally.
Don't force it.
Don't make any extra effort.
Just simply notice the natural flow of your breath.
As we settle into this space together,
I want to share a story about a humble monk from the 17th century,
Brother Lawrence,
Who discovered the sacred in the most ordinary moments of his life.
Before he was Brother Lawrence,
He was a soldier.
He was lost and wounded and searching for meaning and probably quite traumatized in our modern-day wording.
He didn't have any enormous mystical vision or dramatic moment of enlightenment.
But one day,
He noticed a tree,
A simple bare tree in the middle of winter.
It looked dead,
Lifeless,
Stripped of everything,
Possibly the same way that he was feeling inside as well.
But something inside him knew that spring is on its way,
That life is still there inside that tree,
Beneath the surface,
Hidden and waiting.
It had just imagined the bare tree that Brother Lawrence noticed in the middle of winter.
Could you visualize something similar?
A barren tree,
Alive,
But just waiting to fully come to life again in the spring.
And now ask yourself,
Where in my daily life am I overlooking the sacred?
Allow the answer to surface.
Where in my daily life am I overlooking the sacred?
Notice and be with whatever surfaces.
And if nothing surfaces,
Be with the nothing too.
Brother Lawrence saw the Divine in that tree,
And it gave him a spark of hope.
And so he entered a monastery,
Not to be a powerful teacher or a priest,
But to be a brother among brothers.
He took the most humble of roles,
Or was given the most humble of roles,
Working in the kitchen,
Scrubbing pots,
Peeling vegetables and sweeping the floor.
I love this part of his story because at first he struggled.
Not that I want someone to struggle,
But it's just so human.
For ten years he wrestled with doubt,
With distraction,
And the relentless chatter of his own mind.
But he kept turning back.
Turning back to Presence.
Turning back to the God of his understanding.
Until one day he realized the Divine is right here,
Right now,
In this very moment.
In the stirring of the soup,
In the sound of the broom on the floor,
In the act of cleaning the dishes.
Let's do a few things just to practice Presence ourselves.
Relax your shoulders.
Relax your chest.
Be still.
Be aware of your breath.
Take a few breaths in and out through your nose,
And feel the air in your nostrils.
Let's do a quick body scan.
Be aware of your body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
And finally,
Feel the air on your skin.
Now ask yourself,
What struggles or distractions keep pulling you away from being fully present?
Be with and notice whatever arises.
As Brother Lawrence discovered,
Each action,
Each dish washed,
Each meal prepared,
Each simple task,
Became an offering,
A way of being with the God of his understanding.
What if you lived this way?
Here's another self-inquiry question to ask yourself.
How can I turn ordinary moments into a conversation with the Divine?
I'll put it another slightly different way.
How can I turn ordinary moments into a caring and loving conversation with the Divine?
Again,
Allow the answer to surface,
And be with whatever surfaces.
The sacred is not somewhere else.
It is here,
In the ordinary tasks you perform in your daily life.
As Brother Lawrence showed us,
It's even in the pain and struggle to recover from trauma.
If you keep turning back,
Opening,
And surrendering,
You will find that love has been here all along.
Sometimes we need additional help,
And please do that if you need to.
Brother Lawrence called what we've been talking about practicing the presence of God.
Or you could call it practicing the presence of life.
Or you don't need to call it anything at all.
Simply be as present as possible throughout your day,
And notice the shift that begins to take place.
May you walk through your day today with the awareness that you are never alone,
That the Divine is with you,
In you,
As you,
In everything that you do,
And that even in the winter seasons of life,
Spring is always on its way.
Thanks again for being with me today and for taking the time to consider these questions and to contemplate the life of Brother Lawrence and all that he can teach us.
Take good care.
