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Food for Thought - Musings

Alarming

This month I am inviting you to use the alarm on your phone or watch as a prompt to stop, become aware of where you are with God in that moment and, if necessary, reconnect with God. I have been doing this for a while now – my alarm is set for 11:55 am and 4:55 pm to help me become aware of where I am in terms of my connection with God, and in the process I have discovered that merely having the alarm going off brings the gift of internalized awareness regarding my interior posture either toward God or lost in my world of thoughts and doing.


A corollary benefit is that now I am able to tell by my initial reaction where my heart is the very moment that I hear the alarm or, in my case, *the song begin to play. Sometimes when I hear it I am delighted by the reminder to turn my heart back to Jesus, to recall to mind who I am and more importantly whose I am BUT other times, more times than I would like to admit, I experience the alarm as an intrusion, calling me away from what I want to do, my plans, rather than an invitation to connect with someone who loves me, is for me and helps me to live the life I most deeply desire to live, a life that frees me to be more fully who I was created and called to be! In those times that the alarm feels like more of an imposition than an invitation I pay attention to that – not in a condemning way, for there is no condemnation in Christ, but in a gentle I -want-to -know–what-is -going–on-in-my-heart way. The alarm provides this opportunity to become aware, understand and take action or not, but at least I can now make a choice.


You see, whatever you experience in the moment your alarm goes off is fostering an internalized awareness and that is always a good thing – for awareness allows you to knowingly make choices. No longer are you being carried by an unknown current of life but in that moment you know the current you are in and can choose to continue to swim in that current or not.


I have found that this simple practice helps me to be aware and gives me the opportunity to live the way I desire to live – connected to and aware of God. It helps me to choose for Jesus throughout my day rather than losing my connection with Jesus in the midst of a day and floundering through the rest of my day or evening. I hope you will give it a try for this month.


May you experience the alarm as a gift of internalized awareness as well as an invitation to be with God – the one who loves loving you, is with you, is for you, is within you – loving you into this moment and the next and the next and the next.


*Instead of an alarm I have a different song for each time. I have chosen songs that speak to me about the kind of life I want to live. Sometime I will just listen to the song. Other times I will do some type of awareness Examen or spend time focusing on God’s love and sharing things I am grateful for. I cannot say I always do it right when I hear the song – sometime I will finish what I am doing and then do it and there are times that I do not end up doing it at all. But I will tell you this: I do it more than not and I would not be doing anything if I did not have the alarm set.


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