Confronting A Friend - Responding With Prayer

A meditation/prayer for the complex everyday experiences that lift us up and bring us down. They are based upon the Christian tradition and guide the listener towards the freedom of releasing and receiving. Music by Chris Collins, photo by Paul Henrichs.

Transcript

Welcome to Responding with Prayer, An opportunity to respond to the complex everyday experiences that lift us up and bring us down. My name is Jess. I have struggled with attending to prayer, And I hope this little offering brings you closer to the Creator. Today's meditation is on confronting a friend. So let's start by just taking five big breaths. Deep breathing has been scientifically studied and found to change how we engage stress in situations. It's good for slowing down, Preparing for prayer, But also a good practice for all kinds of situations we find ourselves in. So to start, Just feel yourself breathe for one minute. That was literally 60 seconds. If your mind went to other places, That's okay. It's natural. And you're still here, So let's move on. Take a moment and identify one person or situation that you are grateful for today. Take a moment and out loud, Or in your head, Express that gratitude towards God for that person or situation. Perhaps there are few things more emotionally worrisome than having to confront a friend. Often, We are putting our relationship on the line for something that we hope is ultimately healthy for us or them. Serving your own heart right in that situation is paramount as we ask the Spirit for guidance and grace. If you're able, Extend your arms out and turn your palms up in a posture of release toward the Creator. Our bodies are an important part of prayer. All Christian scriptures tell us of a very practical spiritual opportunity. Cast your cares towards the Divine. So imagine for a moment you wrote on your hands the name of your friend, What the issue is and your feelings about this. What words would be on your hands as you extend them up in submission to God? When we place into your hands these things on our hands, We give to you, Our friend, And their impact on our life. A lot of meditation teaches the necessary ability to release. Let's also focus on what healthy things we put into that space of release. If we're releasing the anxiety that comes with confronting a friend, What are we needing to take on in order to move forward? So as you close your hands and bring them back to your body, What accompanying things do you need? How about good motivations, Compassion and love, God's guidance, Holy Spirit discernment, Or community support? These situations help us live into our purpose because they focus us on reliance on God and the betterment of ourselves and of our friend. So in prayer we slow down and we make commitments to our core foundations. Spend a minute expressing to God how this situation is impacting your life and what freedoms you want to live into. God, We accept the freedom that comes with submission to you. So often we fight against the very abundant life that you have for us. So we accept the grace of the love of our friend that we need to confront. We accept your ability to speak to and through us. We accept the humble spirit you call us to have in all things. Taking this time today did not confront your friend for you. It may have changed your orientation towards the upcoming conversation though. You may need to take some greater steps to plan your next steps. But the great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition often maintained that prayer's greatest gift is not that it suddenly changes our situations, But that it often changes us.