Your Story is So Beautiful
- Mar 14, 2018
- 2 min read
FATHER, GRANT THAT ALL MY INTENTIONS, THOUGHTS, ACTIONS, DESIRES, AND IMAGININGS MAY BE DIRECTED PURELY TO THE GREATER SERVICE AND PRAISE OF YOUR DIVINE MAJESTY.
-an opening prayer for Ignatian meditations-
We spread out through the massive retreat center, choosing rooms, trying to make the strange, faded, 70's style bedrooms feel like home (hint: bring Christmas lights). We had dinner at a Brewery, met our retreat director, had Mass together, and with Evening Prayer and conference (nightly talks by our retreat director) at 7 we entered into Silence. We were each assigned a personal Spiritual Director that we would be meeting with daily throughout retreat. Most of us were assigned that first night to spend some time reflecting on our story, on how God has worked in our lives so far so that we could tell our Spiritual Director our story in our meetings the next day.This was mostly for the sake of the directors - to give them context for the prayer and direction they would be doing over the next eight days - but it proved to be a fruitful personal meditation for me as well.
If you know me at all, you know that stories are the language of my soul. But I take my own story for granted a lot of times. When I'm in the midst of the daily grind, it's easy to forget how intricately and beautifully God has created me and is at work in every aspect, every moment of my life. Spending time looking back on the people, experiences, words, stories, hurts, beauties, prayers, movements that shaped who I am and that led me closer to God is a form of prayer that has born much fruit for me in the past: increasing my gratitude, solidifying my sense of identity as His beloved daughter, and making me more aware of His work in the present as well. So on this first day of retreat, I reflected and prayed through, in some detail, the whole of my story and it was to prove an excellent foundation for much that would come later on retreat.
I invite you today to spend some time reflecting on your story. Start by looking for what shaped you as a person and/or drew you closer to God. Ask Him what He wants you to know about your story. Ask Him to help you to see your story through His eyes - the good parts, the bad parts, the painful parts, the beautiful parts.... you get the idea.
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