Sleeping with Bread


After visiting the meme site I found yesterday (http://thedailymeme.com) I discovered another suggested site for a Monday meme.  This is a different sort of meme -- not just another question/answer list so to speak.

This meme is based on the Examen prayer.  The examen prayer follows the spiritual practice of St. Ignatius which involves examining the previous week and studying what brought you peace, strength, consolation and what brought you concern, weakness or desolation.  It is a very thought provoking practice and sets you to thinking about your impact on those and the world around you as well as their impact on you as well.

In the past week, I think the thing that has brought me the most consolation is something diametrically opposed to what brought me the most desolation.  I listen to the news a lot -- I listen to mainstream media as  well as alternative media.  It all, in various degrees, is awful.  It is all doom and gloom and, as best as I can tell from what is reported, there is absolutely nothing of any good left on this planet.  The people are bad, the politics are bad, everything you eat is bad for you, we are becoming more obese and less productive, people can't find jobs.....and it goes on and on until you feel like you are at the bottom of a well with no way out and it is  flooding.

And then...

I look into the face of my newborn granddaughter.  As she lays in my daughter's arms, devouring the food in the bottle, she is  gazing at her mother with all the unconditional love and trust that only a child can possess.  She is dependent on her mother for everything -- the food she eats, the clothes she wears and the love and nurturing that she needs to grow and thrive.

I am reminded of another Child, the Christ child, that gazed at His mother in the same fashion.  I am reminded that we are taught to come to the Father as little children, with faith and trust and that He will take care of us.

As I watch my daughter with her daughter I realize that there is still much goodness in the world.  There is hope and freshness and a brightness of future.  I look at this grandchild and see wisdom in her innocence and am again reminded that all we need is the faith, trust and belief of a little child.