Finding God in the everyday

St Ignatius said that God deals directly with us and is always trying to reach us, so our job is to recognise where God is present in our everyday lives. Even in the mess of things, in the dirt and muck of things, God is always there. That may be unexpected, but it is liberating. Our job is to spot where God is calling and learn to respond, helping us to transform the situations where we find ourselves. There is no point in making the same old prayers in the same old way if God is waiting for a creative response and looking to make something new of us. This is an adventure into the unknown where we can take some pointers from wise people who have gone before us, but it is also one where we have to trust our instincts and believe that God is offering us new possibilities.  Make your prayers real, heartfelt and based on your experience, and step out into the unknown. God is waiting.

Excerpted from Deeper into The Mess: Praying Through Tough Times by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds (p.