Working, Watching & Weeping
My favorite prayer in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer is part of the final service of the day before going to sleep. The prayer is:
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.
I appreciate the way this prayer encompasses working, watching, and weeping. That balance is a challenge for me. I do not enjoy waiting, and tend to act as though things would be better if only I could work a little longer.
I tend to be more focused than open. I am more interested in being effective than in being creative. I am more engaged by getting results than in the process. Whenever I need to wait, I distract myself by checking things on my iPhone.
My focus is a significant part of why I am becoming more contemplative. I am learning to be less focused and more aware of the life and world around me. I am, slowly but surely, finding the openness I need to receive what the world has for me. I am coming to terms with my true self, and sharing who I am.
The fact is that things would not be better if only I could do everything myself. I might feel slightly more comfortable for a little while, but eventually even I would miss the contributions of everyone else.
It is more often my frustration and unwillingness to watch and wait, not my inability to work harder, that brings me to the weeping.
What are you waiting for?
How do you balance working, watching, and weeping?
[Image by rgourley-creativedirector]
8 Comments
Jennifer Alhasa
June 28, 2012Thanks, Greg, for sharing this! I’m being invited to embrace the waiting here too. What I’ve found so refreshing to see is that when we let go of the “doing” so much more happens! It’s a shift to the more Divine Feminine art of allowing and one which our entire Earth is undergoing. Here’s to knowing that now is all we ever have and being truly here as authentically as possible!
Strategic Monk
June 28, 2012Thank you, Jennifer!
I appreciate the idea of embracing the waiting. Sometimes I embrace working so tightly that is squeezes the life out of what I do. My intention is to find new ways to let go and see the possibilities today.
Bonnie
June 28, 2012When at night I go to sleep
Fourteen angels watch to keep
Two my head are guarding
Two my feet are guiding
Two are on my right hand
Two are on my left hand
Two who warmly cover
Two who o’re me hover
Two to whom is given
To guide my steps to heaven.
Don’t know why I felt the need to share that other than I wasn’t half way through the prayer above before this popped into my head.
Strategic Monk
June 28, 2012Thank you, Bonnie.
We got to great lengths to distinguish between what is sacred and what is secular in our lives. Even as we sleep, the divine is merged with our everyday reality; the loving presence of the Holy surrounds us and fills us, guiding us.
Randy Wendt
June 30, 2012My small town in suburban South Atlanta, GA chimes the hours around the clock. I appreciate this verbal notice that another hour of life has past, never to be reclaimed again. What have I accomplished this hour past?
Had it been fruit-full?
As I wait patiently upon the Lord for His movement in my life, am I anticipatory
and thankful for ALL His grace and mercy towards me?
Would I BE in prayer, never ceasing, like breathing?
I appreciate your triggering my thinking in this direction, Strategic Monk!
Strategic Monk
June 30, 2012Thank you, Randy.
Many people find it very helpful to take stock regularly. They reflect every day or every week about when they have been most aware of the divine in their lives, and when they have been least aware. It can also be helpful to spend a little more time each month, or few months, or each year, reflecting on longer term values and vision.
I look forward to talking again soon, Randy.
Jon
July 11, 2012Greg –
I like that prayer too. this hymn is from Compline at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky, where Thomas Merton lived and wrote.
Hymn
Before the ending of the day
creator of the world we pray
that with thy gracious favour thou
wouldst be our guard and keeper now.
From fears and terrors of the night
defend us Lord by thy great might
and when we close our eyes in sleep
let hearts with Christ their vigil keep.
O Father, this we ask be done
through Jesus Christ thine only Son
who with the Paraclete and thee
now lives and reigns eternally.
Amen.
Strategic Monk
July 11, 2012Thank you, Jon. I like them both!