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,
And I have struggled with attending to prayer,
And I hope that this little offering brings you closer to your Creator.
Today's meditation is about being tired,
Physically and otherwise.
So to begin,
Let's take five big breaths together.
Deep breathing has been studied and found to change how we engage stress and 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,
Just feel yourself breathe for 60 seconds.
We'll take one minute to slow our hearts and our minds down and just breathe.
That was literally 60 seconds.
If your mind went to other places just now,
Or happens throughout this time,
That's okay.
It's natural.
You're still here,
So let's move on.
Take one moment and identify a person or situation you are grateful for as you do this.
Take a moment and,
Out loud or in your head,
Express gratitude towards God for that person or situation.
Fatigue is a message from our body,
Psyche,
And the spirit.
It is an indication that we will not be at our best if we continue the same path.
Being tired is not a sign of weakness,
Or an indication of a deficit,
It's an indication of being out of balance or over-exerted.
We all experience this at some point,
But we should be concerned if it's the normal state of our body and soul,
Rather than a natural response to a season of hard work.
Our bodies are an important part of prayer.
So if you're able,
Put your arms out and turn your palms up in a posture of release towards the Creator.
The Christian scriptures tell of a very practical spiritual opportunity.
Cast your cares on Christ,
Because He cares for us.
So imagine you wrote the things that are making you so tired on the palm of your hands,
And as an act of submission,
Turn your palms up toward the Creator.
What words would you write on your hands?
God we place into your hands these things on our hands.
We give to you what is making us tired and unable to be at our best.
A lot of meditation teaches the necessary ability to release.
But let's also focus on what healthy things we put into that place of release.
If we are releasing the things that are causing us fatigue,
What are we needing to take on?
As you close your hands,
What accompanying things do you need as you deal with your weariness or exhaustion?
How about faith in God,
Who can do the things that we cannot?
Or finding our sense of self-worth beyond the activities we do?
How about trusting others with their part?
Or the faith that rest will make us more productive?
In prayer,
We slow down and make commitments to our core foundations.
Spend a moment expressing to God how tiredness is impacting your life,
And how freeing it would be to feel deep rest.
God we accept the freedom that comes with submission to you.
We often fight against the very abundant life that you have for us,
So we accept the grace of slowing down,
Resting,
And renewal.
Our job is to be our best,
While your job is the results.
Taking this time today probably did not magically rest your body,
Heart,
And mind.
It may have changed your orientation towards the busyness that is too much right now.
But you may need to take some greater steps to find the freedom that comes in slowing down and getting rest.
But the great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition often maintained that prayer's greatest gift is not that it suddenly changes our situation,
But that often it changes us.
