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Awake, Aware, and Intentional
Nancy Loyd
Years ago I had an experience in which I heard the words “wake up” ring through my entire body. It was as if God was throwing cold water on every cell of my being to get my attention. In that moment I realized that I had been sleepwalking through life and that I needed to wake up and start living my life with intention. That was a long time ago and my life has significantly changed since then, but the words “wake up” have never left me.
In Kitchen Table Wisdom, Rachel Naomi Remen writes, “Life can become habit, something done without thinking. Living life in this way does not awaken us.” I know how true these words are and to be honest, there are times that I fall back into living life in a habitual manner. But then something (or someone) reminds me how much deeper, richer, and sweeter life is when lived awake, aware, and intentional. These words have become my personal mantra.
Rachel Naomi Remen also writes, “The complexity of the real world requires us to struggle to hear the Holy and develop a personal responsibility to live a good life. It demands that we stay awake.” The world and our lives are complex. I believe the spiritual life is all about the struggle to stay awake in the midst of this complexity in order to notice and respond to the Holy that is always in our midst. It is a profound question to think about how often we may have missed God’s presence right before us because we were “asleep at the wheel” of our lives.
May God give us all the grace to live awake, aware, and intentional.
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