Hello,
And welcome.
To start our time,
Just take a moment to settle into whatever space you're in.
Maybe you are sitting or laying down.
Just allow yourself to arrive here.
Getting a little bit situated,
Begin to notice your body,
How your body's feeling.
Might start by noticing all the places where your body is supported.
Could be by the floor.
Maybe you're seated on a bolster or in a chair.
Perhaps you're laying down in bed or on the sofa.
Just begin to notice where your body meets its foundation.
Just have a passive awareness of how you are feeling or just simply noticing.
So without any sort of judgment today.
And I welcome you to do a little scan of the body,
Beginning with your feet.
And so just bring an awareness to your feet.
Maybe wiggle or squeeze your toes,
Move the ankles around.
Just notice the feet and then relax them.
Notice your lower legs,
The shin,
Calves,
Tops of the knees,
Backs of the knees,
The upper legs,
Tops and backs of the legs.
Maybe move through the legs or bend the knees.
And then relax them.
Bringing an awareness now to your hips,
Your tummy,
Your chest,
Lower back,
Middle back,
Upper back.
Just bring any movement that you might feel necessary into the trunk of the body,
The torso and then relax.
Go ahead and check in with your shoulders,
Your arms,
All the way down to your fingers.
If you like,
You can invite some movement into your elbows,
Your wrists,
Your fingers,
Give them a wiggle or a squeeze,
And then let them all relax.
Relaxing your neck,
Your head,
Maybe move through your jaw a little bit and then relax your jaw and see if you can even relax any expression on your face.
Take a breath in and a breath out.
Just continue to breathe naturally in your own way and I invite you to place one hand on your heart and then your other hand on top of that hand.
Placing one hand on your heart and your other hand on top of that hand.
And so without trying to change anything,
Begin to notice your breath.
Just curiously noticing what's happening as you breathe in and what's happening as you breathe out.
Your chest rising and falling,
Your abdomen filling with air and then deflating.
What do you notice about the temperature of the air that you're breathing?
The temperature as you inhale versus the temperature as you exhale?
How about the quality of the air?
Maybe any aromas that you notice.
Gradually deepening your inhale and your exhale and taking your time for a slow,
Steady breath in.
And a luxuriously long breath out.
On your inhale,
See if you can sense filling up full of warmth and peace.
And on the exhale,
Letting go of any sense of heaviness that you notice you might be holding on to.
Just taking an easy breath in.
This time inviting a sense of love and support.
And pair it with an easy breath out.
Letting go of any feelings of tension that you might be noticing in the body.
And continuing with these soothing breaths,
I invite you to simply listen as I read through Psalm 910.
Simply listening.
So in this time,
Knowing that there's nothing else that you need to do.
There's nowhere else that you need to be.
You simply get to be here,
Resting,
Allowing God's word just to blanket you here in this time.
And see if you can allow yourself to be open to receiving any new mercies or grace of comfort.
You sense your creator extending to you through his word.
Those who know your name,
Trust in you.
For you,
O Lord,
Do not abandon those who search for you.
Is there anything from this passage of Psalm that stands out to you?
Is there anything there that you can maybe connect to your life?
As I read the verse a second time,
See if you can sense where God might be offering you his comfort.
You might imagine your name inserted into the scripture.
Those who know your name,
Trust in you.
For you,
O Lord,
Do not abandon those who search for you.
Take another deep breath in through your nose.
And pair it with a long exhale out through your mouth.
You're welcome to pause the audio if you'd like to focus a little longer on this passage and God's promise for comfort and faithfulness.
And whenever you're ready,
I'll close us with a prayer.
And so I'll be inviting God specifically to minister to any part of us that might feel isolated or alone.
Inviting God into perhaps parts of us that might not quite have the strength or the courage to shift into that space of confidently saying,
Father,
I take comfort in the fact that you are always with me,
Even when I feel alone.
And the reason that I'm going to pray this is because sometimes I think that reading scripture can unintentionally sometimes almost feel distant to us or out of reach in a sense or maybe a comparison that makes our places of less faith feel kind of empty or even as far as depressing.
And rather than us trying to ignore that or dismiss it,
Maybe somehow force it to just get better or just try to hide that that's what we're experiencing.
I think our answer is to look to God and ask him to breathe new life and new courage into those places of us that are in need of him in that way.
So Lord Jesus,
We thank you that we have scriptures that we can resonate with.
Thank you that alongside these scriptures,
We can still sense your peace and love.
Because God,
Right now life feels really lonely.
And some of our relationships have failed.
And it doesn't always seem as if there's anyone who understands us or cares.
Sometimes we feel like giving up on people altogether.
We know that that would only cause us to feel maybe more sorry for ourselves and become even more discouraged.
Your word tells us that you are thinking about us all of the time.
So Father,
Help us to take comfort in the fact that you are always with us,
Even when we feel alone.
Help us to use this lonely time to rediscover your faithfulness and refresh us,
Fill our hearts anew with hope and love.
And as you do,
We know that you will help us to begin to reach out to others again.
Cause us to take the focus off of our own lonely feelings and put it on another person's well being.
We know that when we do this,
Our loneliness eases up.
Please give us the courage to put ourselves in places where we can get to know new people,
Perhaps even serve you at the same time.
We thank you for your presence with us.
We praise you God for who you are.
And it's in Jesus name we pray,
Amen.
