Living with purpose

Raising little people is hard work.  My husband, Mike and I have the great privilege of teaching our children, Riley (2.5 years) and Hudson (1.5 years) about how to live in this world.  Never have I been more aware of the things I say, the things I do, the ways in which I love.  Teaching little people (around the clock) about how to be kind and loving and confident and full of faith in a God who we believe loves them more than we have the capacity to imagine, has taught me about living with purpose, with truth, with intention, in a way that I hadn't before even considered.  Each night, Mike and I lead the boys in our little family version of the daily Examen.  We whisper to each other in the quiet of their bedroom about the day we just experienced together.  We remember the happy things we encountered, the many things we learned together, the people who spent time with us, or the places we visited.

We also remember some of the tougher moments of the day, when nobody seemed happy and frustration hung thick in the home.  And at the end, we offer special prayers for the most special people in our lives.  We consider this time in prayer together an active response to God's love for us.  This prayer time is always so simple, yet I often find myself moved to a deeper experience of prayer than most other moments.  Perhaps it's because I know that we are inviting little people to become aware of themselves, of others, of God with them.

And perhaps it is for these same reasons that I am happy to call SLU my home.   

Almost every day at SLU I'm reminded of how connected we are to the mission of SLU, how connected we are to pursuing God in our own lives, and to living in response to the love of God in our lives.  From the first year students who may have just learned a few “Jesuit buzzwords” to the graduating seniors who will find themselves grateful for and craving more of the Ignatian Spirituality that somehow nestled itself into the very fiber of their being....from the optimistic new member of SLU's staff, to the seasoned veteran of SLU's Faculty, there's something compelling about Ignatian Spirituality, about SLU and her people, that invites us to consider our daily response to God's love for us. 

Because in the end, we belong to each other....and God is here.