I invite you to take a few nice deep breaths,
Letting your body settle into this meditation.
We'll only be here for a few minutes,
So I encourage you to make the most of this time and space,
Deeply inhaling and deeply exhaling.
You can slowly notice from the bottom of your toes to the top of your head,
Are there any parts of your body that aren't quite awake right now that you might want to breathe into?
Maybe you'd like to stretch your legs or your arms,
Your back or your neck.
Just gently checking in,
Letting yourself really ground into this space.
As you continue those deep breaths,
I invite you to either close your eyes or something to focus your gaze on.
I'm going to read a verse from Psalm 5.
I'm going to read this several times.
I invite you to notice any internal stirrings,
Reactions that you might have.
I encourage you to invite all parts of you to receive these words.
I also encourage you,
If your mind seems to wander or go other places,
Jumping ahead to your next to-do,
Jumping ahead to your next task,
Gently imagine bringing that part of you back,
That part of you that wants to continue moving forward and not slow down for a couple minutes.
Gently invite that part of you to receive these words as well,
Assuring that part of you that as soon as this audio is over,
You will be free to continue with your day.
This is Psalm 5 verse 3 from the NIV.
In the morning,
Lord,
You hear my voice.
In the morning,
I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
You can continue those nice deep inhales and exhales,
Chewing on these words as I read them.
Psalm 5 verse 3.
In the morning,
Lord,
You hear my voice.
In the morning,
I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
Nice deep breath.
In the morning,
Lord,
You hear my voice.
In the morning,
I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
On your next deep breath,
I invite you to exhale an audible sigh,
Letting your body push out air,
Imagining even pushing out stress,
Tension,
Or distraction.
In the morning,
Lord,
You hear my voice.
In the morning,
I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
Before I close us with a prayer,
I invite you to check in and see if there are any parts of you that felt encouraged by these words or possibly felt discouraged by these words.
Without judgment and simply with curiosity,
Noticing are there any depths of your being,
Depths of your soul,
That don't feel as though God hears their voice.
Any parts of you that feel like you have been waiting so long and you don't have any more hope to continue waiting expectantly.
Maybe you're in a season where you have clearly seen and noticed God's hand and God's voice in your life.
Maybe you're able to cherish these words and delight in them,
Or maybe there are different parts of you that feel a mixture of all of these things.
Whatever it is that you're noticing inside,
I invite you to either pause this audio to continue processing those emotions and those thoughts if that would feel most helpful,
Or set an intention to come back to this.
If you don't have time right now to continue processing,
Let these parts of you know that you've heard them,
That you've seen them,
And that you will come back to make time and space to process those emotions,
Process those thoughts,
Those longings,
Those debts in an unhurried way.
I invite you to take one last deep inhale,
Deep heavy sigh of an exhale,
And I'll close this in prayer.
Lord God,
I thank you for this day and I pray that you would help us know that you are with us.
I pray that we would not receive this as a platitude that is painful,
But that you would tend to our wounds that might be feeling some pain,
That you would tend to the raw spaces inside that don't quite know what to do with a verse like this,
Or other verses,
Or sermons,
Or Bible studies that we might be in right now.
Please help us to see and know your patience and your kindness,
And help all parts of us to rest in that,
Rather than any shame or judgment we might want to put on ourselves.
Amen.
