Live each day with awareness

by Joyce Rupp

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Eternal Dwelling Place,
I know all things are passing.
My final home is not here.
Yet I zoom mindlessly through my days
missing the passionate gift of life.

How differently I would enter each day
if I embraced the shortness of my life span.
The things I consider inconveniences
would have a different colored hue.
The work I feel driven to accomplish
would pale beside relationships I cherish.
The irritations and the angers would dissolve
as I inhaled the preciousness of life.

Joyful Journeyer,
I hear you call to me this day:
"Behold! Enjoy! Appreciate!
Welcome all who enter this new day.
Live wild with rapturous wonder.

Look with awe and smile with elation.
Forgive those who stand at a distance.
Thank those who have settled in your heart.
Be tender with the rough edges of yourself.
Taste each morsel of life with fullness."

May I live each day with heartiness,
keeping things n clear perspective,
Recognizing that this day before me might truly be my last.

For she is a breath of power of God …"
        --Wisdom 7:25

Prayer reflection

How would you live today if you knew it was your last?
Whom would you thank?
Whom would you forgive or ask forgiveness?
What would you say to those who are significant in your life?

[This reflection comes from Sr. Joyce Rupp's book Prayers to Sophia: Deepening our Relationship with Holy Wisdom.]

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Want to know more about Sister Joyce Rupp? Visit her website.

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