Awake!

This morning, after I shook the sleep from my eyes, I was flipping through a book that’s sitting on my nightstand. 

Thich Nhat Hanh says, in his Living Buddha Living Christ, that “The word ‘Buddha’ comes from the root buddh, which means to wake up. A Buddha is someone who is awake.“

Next to that little nugget, I wrote “Awake!” dramatically in the margin.  

What does it mean for you to be spiritually awake?

I’ve been reflecting on that for myself. I’ve been considering my patterns of spiritual slumber. The most obvious symptom of my spiritual sleepiness is when I don’t fully recognize the people around me as magnificent, radiant beings, filled with God’s love and grace. 

And I go through a lot of my life sleeping on that truth. 

In Ephesians 5:14, there’s this little lyric…

“Wake up, sleeper,

    rise from the dead,

    and Christ will shine on you.”

I’m wondering today… is resurrection a moment-by-moment invitation to wake up to the spiritual lives of those around you? 

May our holy alarm clock gently rouse us from our moments of spiritual slumber. May we awake to the sacredness of every shared moment. Amen.