Lord,
Prepare me to be a sanctuary,
Pure and holy,
Tried and true.
Allow me to be a sanctuary for you.
To shine a light so bright that even in darkness,
When you're weary,
Without hope or feel weak,
That you know the path to sanctuary within your heart.
Rest in your heart space,
Allowing the breath to unlock the places that you've hidden behind.
The places of shame or guilt or remorse.
The places locked in grief and despair.
The places of anticipation and excitement,
Waiting,
Endlessly waiting.
Whether you are without hope,
Feeling weak,
Feeling agitated,
Restless,
Anticipating what is to come.
There is a sanctuary within you.
When you're dwelling in that sanctuary,
You receive the light,
Wisdom,
And strength that you need.
Let us meet the breath to unlock the keys.
Enter in.
Riding on the back of the breath,
Feeling the tickle at the edge of your nose.
Slowly gather the breath and the mind and draw in.
Exhaling,
Rest within you.
Feel a settling of the muscles and the nerves.
With each inhalation,
Follow the breath into the body.
Each exhalation,
Rest in this moment.
Every inhalation,
Long and slow,
Enjoy the ride in.
Exhale,
Slow,
Long,
As though you don't want to fully let go.
This moment,
The softness of the surrender.
Continue slowly breathing in and breathing out even more slowly and gentle.
As you welcome each breath in,
Allow God's love to infiltrate every cell,
Filling the edges of your skin,
Muscles,
The organs.
With every exhalation,
Visualize the exhalation just shimmering and spreading to the corners and crevices,
Extending around you and through you.
Continue in that way,
Savoring the two sides of this mobile breath,
This fluid,
Gracious breath that we are granted.
The grace of this breath is given to us.
Within this breath,
There is life,
There is healing,
And there is wisdom.
Again,
As you slow down even deeper,
There's another layer.
There's the quiet spaces,
Stillness at the edges of the breath.
When you drink the breath in and it fills you and you pause,
There's a moment where we become pure love and light,
That your soul has been shined and cleansed.
After the exhalation,
We find a pause again.
The tension and the longings that reside within us slip away.
Our path becomes clear so that we breathe in again on that clear path that we're weaving with our breath.
We can ask the way.
When I feel weary,
Show me the way.
When I am weak,
Grant me the energy to go on.
When I am without hope,
Grant me inspiration.
Clear my path so that I may do your will.
Returning again and again into this sanctuary that you have prepared within me.
You've prepared me to shine.
You've prepared me a space to rest and restore.
Within me,
Lord,
You have prepared a space that I may receive your love and your light.
You've prepared a space for me.
My breath unlocks the space because you are within that breath.
You are the breath and you are the light.
Preparing yourself with every in-breath,
Opening to the light and to your purpose.
With every exhalation,
Letting go and allowing yourself to be open to the will that has been set forth,
Maybe before the beginnings of time,
Before your existence as you know it.
The will that is God has set for you,
The purpose of your light.
For the next few moments,
Allow yourself to rest in the sanctuary of you.
If your mind begins to wander,
It is because you're human and that's okay.
Don't dwell in needing anything.
Dwell in resting and receiving.
Trusting that a space has been prepared for you to dwell and rest.
Quoting Exodus 25,
8 through 9,
And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
And with Thanksgiving,
I'll be a living sanctuary for you.
One act of love,
One act at a time.
Do one great thing and allow that to come from the pure love and light that you received through the wisdom of you.
And show up again and again,
Dwelling in the sanctuary of your heart and receiving guidance so that you may act with pure love and shine your light so bright.
May you be blessed.
Amen.
