Wake Up!

Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you. - Ephesians 5:14

Yesterday we looked at how the healthiest way through conflict is to start with awareness of what is going on in your own heart. Today we’re going to learn a simple prayer to work on that.

This little prayer from Ephesians 5 is an invitation to self-awareness. Paul is writing about how our souls need to become alert and attuned to what’s going on inside of us, because then “overhang that is exposed to the light becomes visible” (Ephesians 5:13).

Below is a contemporary prayer written to help us move more towards this kind of self-awareness that brings freedom. Perhaps print it out and tape it somewhere so that you can pray it a few times today:

Wake up, sleeper,
 rise from the dead,
     and Christ will shine on you 

Shorten the gap between what’s happening in me and my awareness of it so that I may be present
Strengthen my impulse control so that I may choose into love
Deepen my experience of belovedness and my conviction of the belovedness of others

Amen