A Lenten Meditation

It’s been almost a week since this Lent started. A week filled with chaos and the business of life. I pause to ask myself, where was God in all this? Did I put Him first in my life? Can I honestly say that I feel closer to Him now than I did five short days ago?

And therein lies my problem. See, sometimes, I think we get so bogged down in deadlines and to-do lists, we forget to take those moments to just be. To listen for His voice in the quiet. There is so much noise around me…at home, at work, around the seemingly endless activities I taxi my kids to. It makes it difficult to hear God whispering deep in my soul.

I think of my favorite saints, the two Theresa’s. St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Theresa of Avila. Both Carmelite nuns. Both Doctors of the Church. Both women who learned how to listen to God, even when they were faced with the chaos of the world. Which was frequent. I admire them. And I aspire to embrace the Carmelite spirituality of contemplation. So I have decided that my Lenten goal is to listen. And as I write this, I feel that God is confirming it. I hope that through prayer I can improve my ability to listen.

If you see me on Easter and ask me if I have learned to listen better to his voice in my soul, I want with all my heart to be able to say yes. Because at the end of my life, nothing else will matter.