Many years ago, as young parents, my wife and I sometimes played a game with our kids during long road trips that came to be called “Count Ten Birds.” When they got restless in the backseat, we would urge them to be quiet, look in different directions out their respective windows, and see how long it would take to see and count ten birds. Years later, I came to see this little game as a wonderful metaphor for the power of praying the Ignatian examen — a brief time out of our busy lives to quiet down, look in a different direction, and come to see where and how God was present.
In time, this memory became part of my storytelling shtick as I made presentations on the power of the examen in our lives of faith and prayer. What always seemed to be missing, though, were the voices of the kids. So in turning this into an audio story, I was hoping to recapture those early parenting days on those long road trips, the sound of the highway under our wheels, and exasperated voices yearning for something to help pass the time. I even recruited my two adult children and our two oldest grandkids to play the roles. In doing that, I was able to introduce a whole new generation to the genius of the examen. Enjoy, and pass it on.