Mornings are the time in my day for me to "pause". This morning was a little more difficult for me to get up as I hit yesterday hard at work after a week of retreat and a board meeting.
With my cup of coffee, I headed outside to see the glories of the Creator in the sky. Some mornings there will be Scriptures or songs that automatically pop into my mind when I look at the scenery. Today I did a search on biblegateway.com for something related to "glory of the Lord" and found 1 Chronicles 16:10. That resonated.
I may be a little tired this morning, but my heart seeks the Lord and it can rejoice.
"Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice." 1 Chronicles 16:10 (NIV)
Often a breath prayer is a way to draw near to God. I have prayed them in the past and last week we had the opportunity to create a breath prayer after a reflection time that allowed us to pray for a certain situation.
Breath prayers are a way to pray as you breathe in and breathe out. Thus the name breath prayer. They are short prayers. They are focused prayers.
Ken Hagler has been posting breath prayers quite regularly on his sites and one caught my attention yesterday.
"Light of life, I can't see. Be light to my feet."
I don't know why it caught my attention. Maybe it was the bright light in the corner. Maybe it was because it spoke of "Light". Some days I see clearly and others days I don't. Maybe that's why it caught my attention. I am okay with the Thomas Merton prayer of unknowing.
Ken had also posted a blog yesterday that I didn't get a chance to read. When I went to his blog site this morning to find the breath prayer, I found it in yesterday's blogpost: Seven Practices of Discernment in the Valley of Suck.
In this post, Ken points to a video on breath prayers, but also gives great insight on the long and varied journey through grief.
What?!?! How does this relate to the beginning of this post, that 'those who seek the Lord will rejoice.'???? In the both/and world, in the paradox of life, there is grieving and rejoicing. Our hearts can rejoice for one thing and grieve another. That's the way it is. At least, that is how I've experienced it.
For me to keep pressing on with focus and intentionality, I need to find ways to breathe in, to breathe out, to live into radical compassion, to follow the ways of Christ, and to grieve any and all losses in due time, in my time.
It's a new day. A new opportunity. May the Light shine the way for next steps. May my heart rejoice. May the journey continue.
May the Light shine for your next steps and may your heart rejoice today as well.
May the Light shine for your next steps and may your heart rejoice today as well.
Blessings on your journey,
Debra
No comments:
Post a Comment