“Where are you?” God’s first question in the Bible (Genesis 3.9). They were hiding. They were the first hiders, but they were not the last. I have had a short but frequent prayer for some time, “I want to be where I am.” This prayer comes from a tiredness borne of not being where I am. “Where are you?” Sometimes rehashing past conversations or missteps. Sometimes dreaming about another time or another place. Sometimes given-to-anxiety about calendar scenarios. Sometimes zoned out–full escape! It is exhausting to be everywhere–except where you actually are. My Spiritual Director recently invited me to take numerous pauses through the day and ask, “Where am I?” “What am I feeling right now?” “Where are you feeling it?” Then he suggested this prayer of attunement:
“Attune me
O God
to the reality
of your
attentiveness
and affection.”
Now I am not only where I am, I am also where God is. Augustine said, “Interior intimo meo.” “God is closer to me than I am to myself.”