Being Fully Alive: Living Wide Awake

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” — Mary Oliver

I couldn't help myself; I had to include the above quote from poet Mary Oliver, even though I used one of her lines this week.  

There is a difference between being awake and being awake to life.

We can move through an entire day barely noticing it.

Wake up. Check the phone. Drink the coffee. Drive the familiar route. Complete the tasks. Answer the messages. Watch something. Go to bed.

Repeat.

Nothing is necessarily wrong with any of it.

In fact, some routines and rituals are life-giving and comforting.

But if we go through our routines without being alert and awake to the world around us, we miss out on living more fully.  

Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples to pay attention.

“Consider the lilies of the field” (Matthew 6:28).

Look at them.

Notice them.

Jesus saw things other people hurried past: birds, flowers, children, widows, beggars, farmers, seeds, bread, vineyards, weather, faces.

The world became a window through which he taught people to see God.

Perhaps one of the great spiritual challenges of our age is simply learning to notice again.

Moses encountered God in a burning bush, but Exodus includes a fascinating detail: “When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush” (Exodus 3:4).

Moses turned aside to see.

One of the ancient Jewish midrashes (teachings) about this story says that Moses walked by the burning bush without seeing more than once.  

I wonder how many burning bushes we walk past because we're looking somewhere else.

A beautiful sky.

Someone's sadness.

A stranger's kindness.

A moment of grace.

The face of someone we love.

The quiet presence of God.

This is where our journey toward becoming fully alive finally leads: not toward a more exciting life, but toward greater attention to the life we already have.

Joy requires noticing.

Creativity requires noticing.

Play requires presence.

Gratitude requires attention.

Love certainly does.

So today, slow down.

Look around.

Listen carefully.

Put the phone away for a while.

Notice what is beautiful.

Notice who needs you.

Notice what makes you wonder.

Notice God.

The abundant life may already be happening. We simply need to become awake enough to see it.

Prayer

God of every ordinary moment, wake me up to the life unfolding around me. Slow my hurried heart and sharpen my attention. Help me notice beauty, recognize need, receive joy, and become fully present to the people I love. Keep me from sleepwalking through the precious days you have given me. Teach me to live wide awake to you. Amen.

Reflection Questions

1. What most often prevents you from being fully present to your life?
2. When have you recently experienced wonder or noticed God in an ordinary moment?
3. What practice could help you live more attentively today?

Concluding Reflection

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Perhaps we sometimes make that more complicated than it needs to be.

The abundant life isn't necessarily a bigger life.

It isn't a busier life.

It isn't a more successful life.

It is a life increasingly awake to God.

It is laughing without guilt.

Creating without comparison.

Playing without needing to accomplish anything.

Receiving this imperfect life as a gift.

Paying attention before another precious day slips past unnoticed.

Throughout this week, we've been asking what it means to become fully alive. Perhaps the answer isn't found in adding more things to our lives.

Perhaps it is found in becoming more present to the lives we already have.

Irenaeus, the second-century Christian theologian, famously wrote, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

There is something beautiful about that vision.

God is not trying to make us less human.

In Christ, God is restoring our humanity.

Teaching us to love deeply.

To grieve honestly.

To laugh loudly.

To create freely.

To wonder again.

To pay attention.

To live.

So go live your life.

Love your people.

Make something beautiful.

Laugh whenever you get the chance.

Pay attention.

Give thanks.

And when another ordinary morning arrives, receive it for what it truly is:

a gift.

Because becoming fully alive isn't about squeezing more life into our days.

It's about becoming fully present to the life God has already given us.