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The Sow, the Kid, or Both?

[caption id="attachment_1962" align="alignright" width="200"]Blog by Sr. Barbara Kane, OP Blog by Sr. Barbara Kane, OP[/caption] Every so often someone posts a video about baby goats on Facebook. They are always hilarious and laugh provoking as the kids hop, skip, jump, kick, fall down, etc.  One video has a giant sow laying, awake but not moving, not even twitching as a kid jumps on her back, falls off, jumps again,  The sow stays put, patiently tolerating the kid, providing a kind of platform for the kid’s antics. You get the picture. I got to thinking about my prayer life and whether it was like the sow or the kid.  The sow represents the safe, sturdy prayer life with traditional prayers and rituals that I was fortunate to grow up with.  It’s comfortable and comforting…patient, solid, and so confident that is can tolerate and condone change. The kid represents variety, challenge, shaking things up.  A change of pace. There are many of these practices - centering prayer, walking a labyrinth, coloring a mandala or even making up your own mysteries when saying the rosary.  It's silence. As I reflected on the image, it occurred to me that perhaps both are my prayer life.  That God was calling me to respect and honor my tradition but kick it up a bit with something new….to not forget that the tradition would always be there as a foundation to build upon but not to fear to try out the new. So how about your prayer life?  The sow, the kid, or a bit of both?

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