Settle.
Breathe.
Center.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
I teach at a university where there is an active monastic community,
And I went to their noon prayer service recently.
As ever,
I was struck by the slow pace.
The long pause.
The community gathered there,
Allowed stillness to grow and ripen.
Inhale.
Exhale.
I was also moved by a line from one of the Psalms.
I didn't write it down,
But in my memory,
What the verse said was,
Rejoice as if you already have all the riches.
Not rejoice because you have riches.
Rejoice as if you already have all the riches.
Inhale.
Exhale.
How often in life do we regret what is gone,
What was taken from us,
Or what we never had?
How often do we covet what we want?
How often do we pine over what we might never get?
Inhale.
Exhale.
Rejoice as if you already have all the riches.
Rejoice is a cause for joy.
How often though do we frame things as what is wrong rather than what is right?
I was reading recently how we are ever ready to notice and to name every headwind we face.
Think about so many of our conversations.
Aren't they but a recounting of what is making life so damn hard?
Inhale.
Exhale.
What about our tailwinds?
What about naming that which makes life easier and richer?
What about naming that which brings ease and goodness,
Joy and flavor into our lives?
Inhale.
Exhale.
Not only that,
But how about we trust in enough?
How about we abide in enough?
We don't always have to grow and add and hoard.
Rejoice as if you are already rich because you are.
Trust me.
Right here,
Right now,
You have what you need.
Your breath,
Your center,
Your beautiful and peculiar and amazing being.
Inhale.
Exhale.
No matter what is happening in your external life,
No matter what is happening in body,
Mind or spirit,
You have a shining light inside.
You have a holy light inside.
Inhale.
Exhale.
You are amazing.
You are enough.
You are okay.
Just as you are.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Rejoice and live light.
