From the Mouth of a Monk: Reality Check

When was the last time you had a reality check?

Sometimes our bodies cry out in the form of sudden chest pains...
reality check.... manage that stress...eat less junk food

Sometimes our relationships get worn thin....
reality check.... slow down and reconsider your priorities.... Have you said all the things that need to be said? If he or she disappears from your life, will you forever say things like: If I had only known that was the last time I would see him?

Sometimes our minds are overwhelmed... think of those times when a long line of things are forgotten or misplaced. Or think of the close call you had when driving along a highway with your mind on every thing else but the fact that you were operating a lethal weapon?
reality check.... step back and take a patient look at the possible folly of multi-tasking. Perhaps in the effort to do more or be more all at the same time, I end up being ineffective in all places at once.

Have you heard a voice say something like.... Come on, you fool.... you better wake up and smell the coffee! In other words... get real....see what is really go on. For some folks that means stop imagining things or deceiving yourself. Look around you and get focused upon the situation.

Years ago a monk was talking about this subject....It was at the end of a prolonged retreat. The monk was talking about the notion of "returning to reality". He cautioned us about the tendency to see our every day lives and all of their "busy-ness" as what is really real.

After reflecting upon the many types of reality we experience he paused and said:

The only time we get an accurate glimpse of what is really happening is when we pray. In prayer we get a glimpse of what is essential...lasting... As we speak with God...and (even more importantly) as we listen for the murmuring of God's Spirit... we experience a reality check.

Sometimes it is a flash of insight that propels us ... or it may be a shift of awareness that compels us to stop in our tracks...or to turn around in a totally different direction. Or...it may be one of those realities that says... "I am depleted...there is nothing I can do but lean totally upon the Lord to take me through this."

So...when was the last time you experienced a reality check?