Travel is such a time warp, and it was wild to get off of light rail this afternoon and not be greeted by auto rickshaws, cows, bicycles, motorbikes, and lots of horns. After I arrived home, I was grateful to see a few neighbors, catch up on
some work, and share some stories over dinner with Jason. And I have been
grateful for time tonight to reflect a bit more on the trip to try to capture the
essence of this past week.
As a way to
reflect on my time in India this past week, I thought I would use the structure
of Lectio that I used for morning devotions with the kids since that is so
fresh in my mind from that daily practice.
I used the
first three steps of this Lectio practice below to guide our times this past
week (generally we did not have time to read it a 4th time, so we
just did the first 3 steps).
• Preparation
(Silencio)
• Read
1st time (Lectio) – READ- Listen for a word or phrase that is
addressed to you. What sparkles?
• Read
2nd time and reflect (Meditatio)- MEDITATE- How does this speak
to you? In what way do you hear an invitation from God through this reading?
Ask God, “What do you want me to learn from this today?” Ask your heart, “Why
this word, here and now?”
• Read
3rd time and respond (Oratio)- PRAY- What is your response to God
based on what you have heard?
• Read
4th time and rest (Contemplatio)- CONTEMPLATE- Listen a fourth
time and reflect on the passage once again.
• Resolve
(Incarnatio) – Incarnate (live out) the Word of God
So, tonight, I
re-read all the posts and poured over the hundreds of pictures downloaded, and
I responded to the first three prompts the best I could in my semi-groggy state
from jetlag.
READ
(Lectio):
Thank you,
God, for the things that sparkled in this past week…
Thank you
for spices ground up daily which made for such incredible flavor and for something
that tasted like love at every single meal around the Thota table.
Thank you
for contagious joy in a room full of bubbles, and thank you for mothers who
were crowned with glory and honor for an evening.
Thank you for
Energizer Bunny reserves that showed up despite very little sleep, for
throwback moments with kids and parents with old favorite pictures shared, and for early
morning walks with cows, monkeys, goats, and chickens as companions.
Thank you
for the honor of bearing witness to the stories I heard and the people I met- for their deep
commitment, their incredible resilience, their grief over unspeakable loss, their
delight in one another, and their fierce and abiding love.
Thank you for
the ways that I saw my heart being broken yet softened by these stories.
Thank you
for belly laughter and the comfort and security of family relationships.
Thank you
for the reminder that we are made of more than us, that we belong to one
another, and that the kingdom of God is a beautiful web of relationships.
Thank you for
ways I saw your presence so clearly in my life and in the world around me, and thank
you for anchoring and grounding me more in your love.
MEDITATE
(Meditatio):
What’s the
invitation?
The
invitation this past week was all about paying attention to the stories shared
with me and affirming the beauty I saw in their lives, in essence saying, “I
see you. I hear you. I celebrate you.”
The
invitation was (and will continue to be) to lean into relationships with the
kids over the last 14 years in India (and 30 years in Kenya!) and to keep building
on the richness of what is there.
The invitation
is quite simply to keep asking the question, “What’s the invitation?”
PRAY (Oratio)
My response
is one of gratitude and celebration for the sights and sounds and colors and
stories from this ridiculously joyful week.
My response is
to keep in step with the Spirit so that I won’t miss what is in store for this
work as we try to do the next faithful thing in India and in Kenya continuing
to support and love the students well.
This prayer
that I pieced together for the beginning of the week is a good response to keep
coming back to:
Turning to the day
and to each other,
we open ourselves to
the day and each other.
This is the day that
the Lord has made
and a day we’ll make
our way through.
Whether with ease or
pain,
With energy or
exhaustion,
with patience or
anxiety,
with joy or sorrow,
with celebration or disappointment,
may we find
opportunities for generosity
toward others and
ourselves.
May we find moments
of encounter
even in isolation.
May we always know that we are held in Your love,
and may that love spill over into the people before us.
May we see others as You see them with deep delight,
and may we remember that we belong to each other.
May we begin again
where we have failed
again.
Because this is a way
of living
That’s worth living
daily.
-adapted from Padraig
O’Tuama’s Opening Prayer from Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity, Justice,
and Love and from my Kenya post-trip
prayer.
