Finding God in the Mess: Meditations for Mindful Living

Our busy modern lives distract us and cause us stress. Technology, media, jobs, family, appointments, hobbies—it can all feel like a mess. How do we carve out time for mindful contemplation and prayer? How can we make our prayer time mindful and fruitful and perhaps even restorative? Finding God in the Mess is the perfect tool to help us learn to pause, to take time to be with God, to contemplate our lives, and to recognize God’s presence in all of it, especially the hard times.

Conflict, stress, and worry arise, but these challenges can be overcome. The spirituality of Saint Ignatius of Loyola teaches us that God holds us close, loves us, and desires the best for us at all times. This truth is a solid foundation upon which we can build our lives, find an anchor amid life’s storms, and bring us through our darkest hours.

You can use the meditations within Finding God in the Mess independently or in a parish group setting and at any point during your day.

Jim Deeds is a husband and father from the wonderful and wounded city of Belfast, Ireland. He works as an author, poet, retreat giver, and pastoral worker across Ireland and beyond. During his life Jim has also worked as a busker, a film maker, a play write, a bartender, a social worker, a therapist, a manager of a children's home, and a health service manager. He enjoys playing music and walking the streets and hills in his native city, drawing much of the inspiration for his writing from his life experience and from finding God in the sounds and sights, people and events around him. Jim is passionate about creating sacred space where people can pray, relax and come to know the great love God has for all God's creation.

Brendan McManus, SJ, is an avid hiker whose love of pilgrimage emerged during his Jesuit training when he and a companion begged their way across northern Spain. He currently works as a spiritual director and retreat giver in Belfast, N. Ireland. He also serves as Spirituality Delegate (national coordinator) for the Irish Jesuits.