These reflections don’t really start with writing. They start with prayer.

I have a prayer routine that has grown over about 25 years. I have a prayer book I’ve built over that time. Some things get added. Not much gets taken out. There are written prayers, a lot of names of people I pray for, and time set aside to reflect and listen.

Eventually I even made myself a printed journal because I wanted to write down the answers to the questions I was asking God.

This is where the reflections on this site come from.

My Prayer Routine

I usually begin by looking back at the day before. Where did I see God’s grace? Where did I resist it?

Then I look at the day ahead. What am I afraid of? What am I attached to? What am I trying to control? Is there an idol I need to surrender? I offer the day for a particular person or intention.

I bring God whatever is on my heart. My worries. My fears. The things I need help with. Sometimes I ask for things that would take what feels like a miracle. All things are possible for You, God, so help this…

I ask what God wants of me that day. What is His will for me? I take my best shot at discerning it, but I always come back to: Your will be done. If I’ve got it wrong, I trust Him to correct me.

I ask what virtue I need to work on. Who or what has God entrusted to me to steward today? What particular sin do I need His help avoiding? Pride? Self-reliance? Impatience?

Then I ask for my plumb line: What do I need to stay true to today?

I also have what I jokingly call my Board of Directors, saints I’ve developed a bond with over the years. I ask them to pray for me. Usually one seems to stand out for that particular day, and I’ll ask for that saint’s special intercession.

Then I actually plan my day with all of that in mind.

And I finish with gratitude, writing down three things from the day before that I’m thankful for.

That’s my routine. Please don’t make it yours.

Create your own.

The important thing isn’t following my list. Spend time talking with God. Reflect. Listen. Tell Him what’s on your heart. Give Him some room to answer.

Praying With Scripture

Part of my routine is praying with the daily Mass readings.

I normally read them twice.

The first time I simply read them to get a feel for what is there. Then I ask the Holy Spirit to help me see what I need to see. Sometimes I’ll also ask for the intercession of the saint connected to what I’m reading. If I’m reading St. Paul, I may ask St. Paul for help. If I’m reading Matthew’s Gospel, I may ask St. Matthew.

Then I read everything again.

Usually something grabs my attention. Sometimes it’s a line I can’t get away from. Other times it’s something that doesn’t seem to fit with everything else.

I write those things down from each of the readings.

Then comes one of my favorite parts:

Okay God, let’s discern what You want me to take from these.

It almost feels like a puzzle, and honestly, I find it fun. I start looking at the pieces together and almost every day there comes a moment when I think, Whoa. That’s deep.

And more often than not, it hits me right where I am.

Where AI Comes In

Only after all of that do I turn to AI.

First, I use it to help me look across everything I’ve written in my journal and see if there is a theme running through it. Sometimes it helps me notice a connection I didn’t see while I was writing.

I use that theme to create a short midday prayer for myself. It’s something I can come back to later in the day when I need to get recentered on what I thought God was asking of me that morning.

Then I go back to my Scripture reflection and ask AI to help me create a framework I can share with other people.

And I want to be transparent about this: AI does a lot of the actual writing.

I’m probably better described as the planner and editor. The prayer, Scripture, journaling, experiences, struggles, and thoughts are mine. AI helps me turn them into something readable.

Then we start fixing it.

Sometimes it gets what I’m trying to say almost immediately, and I change a word here or a sentence there. More often than I’d like, it drifts away from what I actually meant and we start over.

Sometimes that takes a minute. Sometimes it takes fifteen minutes. And sometimes my temper comes out and I want to throw my phone across the room.

Apparently the reflection process occasionally gives me another virtue to work on.

There is also a very practical reason I use AI: time. This is a side hustle. I don’t have another 30 minutes every morning to turn what I wrote in my journal into polished prose.

AI isn’t a shortcut for the prayer. It’s a shortcut for the writing afterward.

Why I Use My Own Life

Every day, I try to connect the Scripture to something happening in my actual life.

That’s intentional.

I think sometimes we can read Scripture as something God said a long time ago to people who lived a long time ago.

But God still speaks to us through Scripture today.

So I use my own life as the example. It may be something I’m struggling with. Something that happened yesterday. My family. My work. My prayer. A failure. A worry. Something I’m trying to surrender.

I’m not sharing my life because I think my life is particularly interesting. It’s simply the only example I can honestly give.

I’m showing you: Here’s what I believe God showed me today.

That doesn’t mean it’s what He wants to show you.

Please read the Scripture for yourself. Pray with it. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Listen to God.

Why I Share Them

I hadn’t been practicing Lectio Divina very long before I remember thinking, Other people need to do this. This is so fruitful.

So I figured, be the change you want to see.

To heck with it. I started sharing what I was finding with my men’s brotherhood.

I did that for a while, and men began telling me the reflections were helping them. So I started sharing them with another group. Every once in a while I would write something and think, I have to do something with this. I can’t just keep this to myself.

It made me understand, at least a little, what Jeremiah meant:

“But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding back, I cannot!” (Jeremiah 20:9)

Eventually, that desire to share became this website.

My Hope

My hope isn’t that you read one of these and think, That’s a good reflection.

I hope you read it and eventually start wondering:

What would I have noticed in today’s readings?

Then open Scripture yourself.

Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Sit with it. Wrestle with it. Ask questions. Let something grab your attention. Talk to God about what is actually happening in your life.

You don’t need my prayer routine. Create your own.

But spend time reflecting. Spend time talking to God. And spend some time listening.

In fact, my hope is that someday these reflections become unnecessary.

I hope nobody needs mine because everyone is doing their own.

Okay God, what are You trying to show me today?