Tonight’s meditation come to us from David Steindl Rast, a 96 year-old author, scholar, and Benedictine monk.
He offers, “we [need to] wake up. Wake up to what? To surprise. As long as nothing surprises us, we walk through life in a daze. We need to practice waking up to surprise”.
He suggests as a meditative practice, a simple question – used as a type of alarm clock: “Isn’t this surprising?”
[and] “Yes, indeed!” will be the correct answer, no matter when and where and under what circumstances you ask this question.
After all, isn’t it surprising that there is anything at all, rather than nothing?
Ask yourself at least twice a day he says, “’Isn’t this surprising?’” and you will soon be more awake to the surprising world in which we live”.
As we sit in silence with one another – you’re invited to reflect on where you experienced surprises today.
