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A 22-minute audio guided meditation in the contemplative Christian tradition.
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
We are asked to use our discernment in a thousand ways each day – what is mine to do? And what moment am I in? Is this a time to tear or a time to mend? A time to embrace or to refrain from embracing? A time to weep or a time to laugh? (Sometimes these last two are surprisingly interwoven, in my experience.)
Ignatius invites us to cultivate a kind of inner freedom so that we have the spiritual flexibility to move towards the right thing at the right time. He invites us to always choose “what will better lead to God’s deepening life in me.” This may look like embracing when it is time to embrace, or throwing away when it is time to throw away.
May hearing these old, familiar words be a new experience for you today. May they shimmer and illuminate your present moment and may you have the inner freedom to move as the Spirit leads.
Every blessing.
Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.
Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” to find out about monthly mini retreats on Zoom or in person, and Retreats in Daily Life.
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