Welcome,
Dear one.
In a moment,
You'll be invited into a time of reflection and prayer through your family history.
You'll consider those that have gone before you,
What glimmers of light they have passed on through your family heritage,
And release anything that needs to be released.
This is a time of healing and hope.
Let's begin by inviting God into this time,
Your memory and your history.
Ground yourself in God's presence with three grounding breaths.
Breathe in and embrace fullness and hope.
Breathe out and release worry and fear.
Breathing in life and breathing out loss.
Breathing in connection and breathing out misunderstanding.
These breaths release those emotions that make you feel disconnected,
Lost,
Lonely.
You belong here.
God is with you.
Feel your body settle in now to whatever you are resting on.
Feeling lighter,
Supported,
Connected.
You can enter that inner space of deep awareness and connection in your soul right now.
With your spirit fully attuned,
Take a moment to reflect on your roots.
Imagine yourself as a tree,
Wide branches outstretched,
Roots going deep.
Picture this majestic tree in your mind now.
Focus now on the tree's roots.
Outline them gently,
Traveling up and down their winding patterns with your eyes.
Reflect on the symbol of these roots.
Who were those that have gone before you,
Have influenced you,
And have laid your foundation?
Name and picture those people now.
Picture now your grandparents.
What do you know about them,
About the way they grew up,
The era they lived in,
The struggles they may have faced?
What stories did they tell,
Or what stories did your parents tell about them?
Picture what life was like as they were young and still forming their identities,
Letting it play out before you like a movie.
Picture what they may have looked like,
Sounded like,
What they may have worn,
And what the world was like during that important time of formation.
What values were passed down from them?
Now imagine what victories they may have experienced.
Ask God to shed his light on the story of your grandparents and bring to mind those victories now.
If there's any hardness,
Struggle,
Or hurt that comes to mind during this time,
Simply invite God to heal it,
The God who is not limited by time,
Who can heal all wounds.
Feel that healing light surround the tree of your family history,
Renewing and bringing wholeness.
Now reflect on your parents,
Starting with your father.
Ask God to bring to mind your father's story,
Showing you God's vision and understanding of your father's history.
Imagine him as a child.
What does he look like?
What does he sound like?
What do you imagine him enjoying as a small child?
What toys or activities did he enjoy most?
In your imagination,
Picture him enjoying those things now.
Ask God to shed even more of his light into the story of your father.
See your father with new eyes and feel compassion for the child that he is.
Imagine your father growing up,
Learning,
Experiencing,
And maturing.
How does he look and sound now?
What struggles did he face?
Imagine him doing his best with what he has been given.
Where did he triumph?
What values and lessons did you receive from him?
What are you carrying now from him that needs to be released?
Ask God to be with you and help you release any hardness or heaviness that you are carrying from your father's story or your experience of him.
Now turn your attention to your mother.
Imagine her too as a child.
What does she look like,
Sound like?
Imagine her smile and the sound of her voice as a young child.
What do you imagine her enjoying as a child?
In your imagination,
Picture her enjoying those things now.
Ask God to bring to mind your mother's story in its fullness.
Feel compassion for that child that is your mother.
Imagine your mother growing up,
Learning,
Experiencing,
And maturing.
What struggles did she face?
Imagine her doing her best with what she has been given.
Where did she triumph?
What values and lessons did you receive from her?
What are you carrying now from her that needs to be released?
Ask God to be with you and help you release any hardness or heaviness you are carrying with you from her story or your experience of her.
Now turn your attention to yourself.
What were the learned behaviors you inherited from those that went before you?
What connections are you seeing?
Understanding these connections and knowing their source,
Feel self-compassion grow in your heart.
Know that these can be redeemed,
Healed.
Invite God now to break any chains that have a hold on you and keep you from stepping into the fullness of life.
Embrace your heritage.
To symbolize this,
Imagine yourself hugging the tree of your family history.
It is your story,
Both the struggles and the triumphs.
It shapes and forms you.
God can use it to grow you and mature you.
Embrace it all,
Accepting and holding it.
Your heritage is a part of you,
But it isn't all of you.
God desires to renew you and give you a future filled with hope.
He desires to help you release that which is no longer good for you and embrace the values that are worth holding on to.
Now acknowledge that God is also a part of your family tree.
He desires to feed you,
Sustain you,
Grow you.
God's love for you is endless and unconditional.
Sit in the knowledge that you are fully and completely loved as you are for who you are.
Thank God for being your father,
For loving you into existence,
For bringing light into dark places.
God,
Continue to grow us as people with a past,
A present,
And a future.
Connect us to those that have gone before us and those that will follow.
Hold our hand as we walk through this life and make meaning of it.
Rewrite our story into a story that's full of hope.
Bring us from our past into our future,
Into the places you are calling us,
Into the people you are growing us to be.
Amen.
