Wake Up to Wonder: 22 Invitations to Amazement in the Everyday a 5-Day Reading Plan by Karen Wright MarshEsimerkki

Day Five: Dwell—Choose Your Intention

Scripture: Psalm 1:2, 119:97-99, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:8

Down in the steamy kitchen, Brother Lawrence (1614-91) tended fires, ladled soup, baked bread, scrubbed potatoes, balanced platters, and scoured cauldrons, ever at the bidding of the monastery from dawn to dusk. Despite the demands and distractions, this disabled, barely literate peasant held on to one daily focus: to remain aware of God’s presence.

When he’d signed on at the Paris monastery, he’d been assigned to kitchen duty—a hot, unpleasant gig he hated, but what else could he do, unskilled and uneducated as he was? Even as he bustled about his usual occupations right there in the basement scullery, he determined to pursue one single purpose: to go through each day and every hour with a moment-by-moment attention to God.

This is what Brother Lawrence did. Whenever his mind wandered from God’s loving presence, he resolved to begin anew, picking himself up after his falls, doing small acts of faith and love, returning himself to his conversation with God with words of recommitment, saying, “Lord, work with me; receive my work and possess all my affections.” Over time, Brother Lawrence’s intention became practice; practice became habit; habit became an ongoing conversation with God.

Brother Lawrence cultivated not just a relationship with God; his relationships with other people flourished too. All manner of sophisticated and esteemed visitors, from monks, bishops, and priests to high-ranking women of church and court, were drawn to this unlikely counselor in the kitchen. Once you got past his rough exterior, people marveled to each other, you discovered unusual wisdom, an inner freedom, and a cheerful, open manner. Brother Lawrence brought out confidences. You felt as if you could tell the man absolutely anything.

To each person, the lay brother dispensed pretty much the same advice. Simply love God, whoever you may be. Brother Lawrence urged an ordinary, sustaining spirituality: the practice of the presence of God amid everyday distractions. Anyone could do it. Even a military man, in the moment of racing into battle with drawn sword, could offer “a brief, little remembrance” of God. “The business and commerce of the world cannot serve as an excuse for neglecting our duty,” he declared.

Choose one intention for this day. Select a scripture from today’s reading that encapsulates your intention. Write this out and place it somewhere you will see it and return to your intention amid your activities.

Allow this act of intentionality to become an ongoing meditation of God’s loving Presence with you.