Todays Surprises

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I ask God to make his presence known to me in this moment.

I place my hands, palms up, in a gesture of receptivity.

I thank God for one or two of the blessings, big and small, that I received today.

I ask God to show me a negative surprise from this past day.

In my imagination, I replay the moment or moments of my day that were affected by that negative surprise, paying attention to both my interior response (attitude/disposition) and my exterior response (words/actions).

I ask God for forgiveness for any response that was not from his inspiration, and I thank God for any response that was from him.

I ask God to show me the biggest positive surprise of my day.

In my imagination, I replay the moment or moments of my day that were affected by that positive surprise, again paying attention to my interior and exterior response.

I ask God for forgiveness for any response that was not from him (ingratitude, for example), and thank God for any that was.

I look to tomorrow. I ask God to show me a concrete way I could surprise someone tomorrow.

It could be something big, such as getting a person a gift or apologising for something I’ve done wrong. Or it could be something small, such as not being so grumpy with the co-worker who gets under my skin.

I ask God to help me desire to create this surprising moment.

I try to stir up excitement in my heart about it, imagining the good that will come from it.

If I feel called to do so, I resolve to do it and not back out.

I end by singing or humming the refrain from my favourite hymn.

Written by Mark Thibodeaux SJ from 'Reimagining the Examen', used with the kind permission of Loyola Press.