To start our time,
I invite you to anchor in some really deep breaths,
Letting yourself notice if there's any tension in your jaw,
Your neck,
Back,
Hips,
Or gut,
Or anywhere else in your body that you would like to focus on exhaling with each breath.
Right off the bat here,
You can imagine this tension leaving your body,
Like mist or particles that are breaking up,
Just being curious and playful about some sort of imagery that depicts releasing any of that tension.
Little by little,
Each exhale,
It's okay if it feels like it's slow moving,
And really breathing into any ounce of relief that you sense.
So even if it's just a tiny bit,
Breathing that in,
Soaking that up,
Continuing to imagine exhaling that tension.
As you continue those nice deep breaths,
I'm going to read a verse from Psalm 67.
You can just let these words shine on you like a ray of sunshine.
You can just imagine their warmth.
You can imagine basking in or glowing in just the richness and the sweetness of these words,
Inviting any and every part of you to receive them,
And also being mindful not to force any parts of you to engage here that might feel hesitant for any reason.
So with a nice deep breath,
This is Psalm 67 verse 1 from the ESV.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
As you continue those breaths,
I'm going to read this a number of times.
I invite you to sync up your inhales and your exhales.
You can do this in whatever way you might like,
And if you would appreciate a prompt,
You can breathe in as I read,
May God be gracious to us and bless us,
And you can exhale as I read,
And make his face to shine upon us.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
As you continue those nice deep breaths,
I invite you to consider how different parts of you are receiving the words that I'm reading here.
If you're noticing any judgments,
Criticisms,
Or self-shame that come up as you're noticing this,
You can gently ask those voices,
Those perspectives,
Those parts of you to take a step back,
Creating space for you to engage in this exercise for just a couple of minutes.
As you're noticing,
I invite you to notice with curiosity and apart from judgments,
Just seeing are there parts of you that do feel warmed and warmth from these words?
Are there parts of you that feel hesitant to receive these words or are even rejecting these words?
Is there any part of you that wants to receive these words,
But it just feels too risky or too vulnerable in some way?
And if you're not familiar with parts work,
You can simply think of this as a depth of your soul,
A facet of your being that sees God and sees the world in a certain way.
A depth of your soul that might be anchored in a certain age,
That might be shaped by a specific experience you walked through,
Maybe some sort of loss or trauma that makes it difficult to trust God or difficult to receive the warmth of his face shining on us.
And whatever you might be noticing of these different parts of you and how parts of you are receiving these words,
I invite you to imagine offering a sense of comfort.
And so for parts of you that are excited about these words,
This might simply be an image of basking in the light of God's face shining on them.
For a part of you that's maybe scared or hesitant,
It might look like creating some sort of imagery that doesn't feel so threatening and that feels safe.
This might be by a peaceful creek or stream.
It might be in a favorite place in your home.
It might be with a trusted pet or person.
You can view this as almost a bridge to cultivating safety to be able to receive words like this rather than simply trying to force parts of you to receive words like this immediately.
Before I close our time,
I'm going to read this verse three more times and end with a prayer inviting all parts of you to receive these words in whatever way feels most safe and most soothing.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
God,
I ask for each person listening to this that you would offer whatever kind of comfort,
Whatever kind of warmth from the light of your face and your presence to wrap around them in a soothing and secure way that only you can bring.
I pray that you would bind wounds,
That you would heal painful relational injuries,
Experiences that leave us worn and tattered.
Would you make your presence known in these painful spaces?
Would you fill our lungs with breath and allow us to exhale pain,
Exhale grief,
Exhale tension,
Exhale the things that we are carrying that we don't need to carry any longer.
Give us hope and eyes to see you unburdening us and carrying those things or graciously taking them from our grip.
Pray all of these things in your name,
Amen.
