Slow Stuff - Not!
Photo by mauro mora on Unsplash
A year or so ago, my pastor and I decided to start meeting with the young people of our church every other week. We alternated leading the kids in a Bible study or spiritual practice of some kind. Since I was going to a course on being a Spiritual Director and also had completed a course on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, I decided to lead them through several different ways of praying that I had learned about. I created a handout for each session, talked to them about the methods, and led them through a guided practice of the prayer methods. We did things like centering prayer, a prayer called the Examen, imaginative prayer, welcoming prayer, and others.
At the end of the year, we discussed what we would do in the upcoming year. One of the kids said, “Can we do something different than this slow stuff? We’re really busy, and a lot of times we don’t have enough time for doing slow stuff like we talked about this year. Can we learn about things we can do in our busy lives?”
It made me laugh. I thought, “Well, okay, that’s what he got from this. It’s ‘slow stuff.’” But we indeed think way, right? A lot of us do feel like we’re too busy to do “slow stuff” like contemplation, meditation, and prayer. And, as one of my classmates said, that’s okay! Maybe right now you ARE too busy for longer periods spent in silence, prayer, and meditation. And that’s true and understandable.
So, what I want to write about today is some things you can try to lead a contemplative life that fits into a busy life, that doesn’t add a bunch of “slow stuff” to your busy schedule. There are lots of materials and books I hope to write about with other practices where you do spend more time in silence and contemplation and I hope and trust that you will have certain seasons of your life where those will be possible.
One of these ways to be more contemplative without adding to your busy schedule is by making what I call rituals out of everyday activities. What I’m talking about here is to think about what you do on a typical day and consider whether you might approach it in a little different way—as if it were a ritual.
For example, I have started doing this when I take all my pills out of their bottles every morning. I take around 5 pills every morning. Now, as I open each bottle and get a pill I think about what that pill is for and what I’m grateful for about that. For instance, I take out a pill for my diabetes and think about how thankful I am that my diabetes is in control and not making me sicker or even die from it. I take out another pill for a thyroid condition I have and think about how sick I felt until this was diagnosed and now this one tiny pill takes care of it. And so on. Just thinking about, noticing, remembering, and feeling gratitude.
Another ritual I have is when I have completed a session with the people I am giving Spiritual Direction. I light a candle to remind ourselves Jesus is in the room with us as we talk. At the end of the session, after the person has left, I blow the candle out and stand for a moment watching the smoke curl up. I imagine that everything we’ve talked about is going up to God, the way the smoke of incense or a sacrifice does.
I have a friend who makes tea for herself every morning. She says while she’s waiting for her tea to steep—just a few minutes—she talks to God about the upcoming day or just breathes slowly, noticing her breath.
That’s the kind of thing I mean. Think about what you already do, maybe list what you do on a typical day, and then think of ways you could make those daily, repetitive actions into a ritual or prayer, or even just a time of noticing and silence. I encourage you to share in the comments what ideas you have, or practices you do.
There are many books and writings about making prayer and ritual an intrinsic, “native” characteristic of your everyday life. Here are a few.
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
Every Moment Holy: New Liturgies for Daily Life by Douglas Kaine McKelvey
A 17th-century monk named Brother Lawrence lived out the concept of making every moment of his life a prayer. Here is an article about him and a book he wrote, which I haven’t read yet, is The Practice of the Presence of God.