I invite you to take a few nice deep breaths,
Filling your entire abdomen with air and intentionally exhaling as much air as is possible,
Allowing that to set a rhythm of deep breaths.
You can even explore some heavy sighs that might even make an audible noise.
Just gently noticing if there's any heaviness weighing on you or inside of you right now that you might want to let go of with those exhales,
Focusing on the new and fresh air that you are breathing in,
Exhaling and sighing out any heaviness that you don't want to take with you into the space or into the rest of your day.
Wherever you're sitting or laying down,
You can simply notice how settled your body feels.
If there's anything else that would help your body to feel more grounded.
Maybe your body feels at rest,
But your mind won't stop even though you're trying to slow down here for a few minutes with this meditation.
You do have any thoughts swirling around in your mind,
Almost like little hamsters on some hamster wheels.
You can imagine gently placing those things that are running through your mind into a jar or a container or on a shelf.
Gently setting them aside for this time knowing that you can come back to them when you have the space and capacity to attend to them.
If you need any more time to place anything aside,
I invite you to pause this audio.
With a nice deep inhale and exhale,
We will spend a little bit of time in Isaiah 25.
As I read these verses,
I invite you to simply be.
There's nothing you need to do right now.
There's nothing required of you.
You simply get to receive these beautiful words.
Let them wash over your soul.
Starting in verse six.
On this mountain,
The Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food,
A feast of well-aged wine,
Of rich food full of marrow,
Of aged wine well-refined.
And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples,
The veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever.
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.
And the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth.
For the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Behold,
This is our God.
We have waited for him that he might save us.
This is the Lord.
We have waited for him.
Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Continuing some nice deep breaths,
I invite you to sit with the image of God wiping away tears from all faces,
Knowing that this is paired with him swallowing up death forever.
As you let yourself marinate in these rich and beautiful statements,
You can notice with curiosity if there's any part of you,
Any depth of your soul that's relieved by this,
That finds hope in this.
In the messiness of a broken world,
We don't always receive the comfort that we long for,
Whether that be from people in front of us or our interactions with God.
And this can be really painful and even disorienting.
I have to hold to statements like this sometimes to borrow hope that even though right now things are not made right,
And right now there are a lot of tears that are not being wiped away,
That one day God will swallow up death forever.
And one day he will wipe away tears from all faces.
I hope that those statements are in some way soothing to facets of your soul.
I invite you to consider that as I close us with a prayer.
Lord God,
There are seasons in life where it feels impossible to make sense of what we see in front of us through the eyes of our perspective.
There are times where it feels impossible to make sense of you being good and compassionate,
Merciful and loving,
When what we see and feel is pain and brokenness.
I pray for any depths of our souls that need to know,
That need to hear that one day you will swallow up death forever,
And one day you will wipe away tears from all faces.
Would you speak that over and speak that directly to any of the depths of our souls that need to hear this?
Would there not be any sense of feeling shamed into believing this just because we should?
But would you cultivate a real and raw and merciful space,
Connecting to the hope of your healing and redemptive work that you have already started and you will continue to completion?
And for any and every part of us that is not able to have hope in that,
That is not able to see that,
That is really struggling with that bigger picture that we can't see and taste right now in front of us,
Would you mercifully pour out even the tiniest morsel of hope that one day we will taste that in its fullness?
Amen.
