A few years ago, I participated in the 19th Annotation Retreat of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. During it, I was asked to dive into a Scripture passage and pray with it by placing myself into the scene and experiencing it “first hand” and reflecting on what insights that experience brought forth. This prayer is exactly what my heart needed. Reading scripture had been my homework over the years of study in theology and so it felt more like a textbook for me to dissect rather than God’s love letter to me. These exercises radically changed my relationship with the Word. One specific moment that I often return to is the call of Simon in Luke’s gospel. During my prayer on this passage, I imagined sitting on the beach, listening to Jesus, and watching this scene unfold. When Jesus asks Simon to cast his nets again in the deep after a failed night of fishing, I imagined that Simon rolled his eyes, looked over into the sea, and saw a glimmer of something. Maybe a fish? This small glimmer of hope is the piece I held on to, and continue to hold on to. How often do I roll my eyes at God only to follow His gaze and really look and catch a glimmer of hope? When I remember to take the time to sit with a passage and to be present to the words being spoken and the sights, smells, and people of the scene, I know God meets me there. Every time I do this, I remember that God is real, that He is ever-present, and that He offers us glimmers of hope if we’re willing to slow down and find the details, even if they’re only imagined. What passage do you like to pray with? Or what scripture passage do you feel called to dwell in more fully?