The Examen: Tracing God's Hand

Recently, I felt God challenge me to make a daily Examen a part of my life rhythm. Truthfully, I began the practice with as much enthusiasm as pulling a small sliver out of my finger. It felt like it may be dreary and possibly painful. At the end of a long day, I am usually ready to sink under my warm covers and fall asleep. The last thing I want to do is use mental energy to rehearse my day.

Having learned God knows what I need more than I do and He never asks me to do something that is pointless, I wrote up a daily Examen, printed it and began the practice. 

I was amazed at what I found! When regularly looking back at my day I began to notice God where I hadn’t before. As I recounted what was beautiful I began to feel gratefulness to God for the small gifts I had been given. When I looked at my failures, I found God wrapped them with His grace and forgiveness as I placed them in His hands. Burdens I carried, I gave to Him to do the heavy lifting and even in small joys I felt His celebration with me.

I felt like I was catching the wind. Sometimes God’s movements in our lives are very faint and if we aren’t paying attention we miss them. I had been missing a lot as I raced off to sleep. After practicing the Examen, I went to sleep unburdened and felt His loving embrace. I could tangibly feel His care. His care for me had not changed because of the Examen, but my awareness of His care did. I slept better and my heart was more at ease. I realized God had been waiting for me open-armed and I had been missing it all along as I went to sleep burdened from the day and often forgetting the beauty. As I now take time to go over my day with Him, I notice those extended arms and tangibly know my life is held. Sleep comes more easily.

The yearly Examen is the same practice but much more in depth. It helps us see where we have been and where we are going on a larger scale. More importantly it allows us to sit with God and with His wisdom, see what is important. We look at what needs to be let go of, what needs to be invested in, what in our lives has grown and what in our lives have died. We notice our pain and our celebrations and invite God into them. We learn vulnerability and to do life with Him rather than on our own. It is not a scorecard we keep, but an offering we make as we open up our hearts to the tender care and guidance of God.

The Examen is a way for us to carefully reflect on our lives, find God’s movements in them and become more responsive to His presence. It is a way to ‘remember’ God in our lives and all He has done. Remembering is closely linked to faithfulness. It is when we forget we are prone to wander. The consistent reminder God is active within our lives reminds us in our daily moments He is present with us no matter what we face. The Examen is a helpful way to practice remembering.

Deuteronomy 4:9 (NIV) says, “Only be careful, and watch yourself closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and their children after them.” The rest of the passage goes into the story of the Israelites’ passage from Egypt to the Promised Land and celebrates their story.

We also have a story being written of God’s redemptive and redeeming grace. We are changed and being changed as we learn to walk with Him. The Examen helps us see where we have been with Him and where we are going. Certainly we will find His goodness and mercy has followed us all of our days and will continue to follow us for our entire lives.

*If you'd like a link to a printable pdf of my Daily Examen you can email me. This is a prayer I wrote for the opening page. 

My Prayer of Daily Examen

Father, thank You for being present with me. Here and now in this moment,

You hold me closely and tenderly.

 You know my inner longings, my inner musings, my frustrations, my fears and my joys.

Thank You for your never-ending and extravagant love for me.

Help me see Your movements in my life, both the quiet ones and the ones easily seen.

My life is punctuated by Your goodness and grace.

You are weaving Your life with mine.

Help me see all the ways You are interactive in my life. Thank You I don’t live

a day of my life on my own but with You.

In the places I’ve seen and experienced desolation today - those places

where I’ve experienced negative emotions within myself and towards others,

those places where I’ve experienced disappointments with myself and those

around me - help me see You and desolations as opportunities to experience You.

You are with me in my weakness and pain.

All of my sin only needs my repentance and your restorative touch. I bring all

of me to the foot of Your Cross. Help me also to offer forgiveness to others

joined with Your love.

In the places of consolation today I find joy. The consolations remind me You

love to surprise me in big and small ways.

You are always at work in my life.

The beauty I have beheld in both myself and in others is the result of Your

creative work. Every day I am a witness to Your transformative power both in

myself and in others.

Thank You that You hold my tomorrow. Help me bring the beautiful

encounters of today into my tomorrow. Let me never let go of the goodness I

see. Surely Your goodness and mercy follows me day after day.

It is in You I find life.