Reflect
When Moses, on Mt. Sinai, asked to see God’s face (or glory), he was told, “When my glory passes I will set you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face may not be seen” (Ex 33:22–23). While few humans are blessed with receiving a beatific vision—or seeing God directly—most of us, like Moses, see God’s back after God has come and gone. In other words, we see (or experience) God in hindsight, through holy aha moments.
Pray
God of glory,
Millennia ago you allowed Moses, your faithful servant, to see you in hindsight—
to see the fullness of your being reflectively, after the fact.
Grant me patience of mind, openness of heart, and curiosity of imagination,
to encounter your presence whenever, and however, it can be known.
Amen.
Act
One of the best ways to see God in retrospect is by journaling. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you write down. By giving expression to certain events, challenges, relationships, and dreams of your own, and then returning to what you’ve written (days and months later), you’ll be amazed by what you sometimes see that you failed, at first, to even notice.
