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,
So I hope this little offering brings you closer to the Creator.
Today's meditation is on transition.
Let's begin,
And to start,
We'll just take five big breaths.
Deep breathing has been studied and found to change how we engage stress and situations.
This is good for slowing down,
Preparing for prayer,
But also a good practice for all kinds of situations we find ourselves in.
So just for 60 seconds,
One minute,
Feel yourself breathe.
That was literally 60 seconds.
If your mind went to other places and happens throughout this time,
That's okay.
It's natural,
And you're still here,
So let's move on.
Take a moment to identify one person or situation that you are grateful for as you do this.
Take a moment,
And out loud or in your head,
Express that gratitude towards God.
Not everything in life fits into neat categories of good and bad.
Moving forwards or moving backwards,
Some transitions are sudden and thrusted upon us.
Some are chosen.
Some are chosen for us.
Regardless,
They all present new opportunity to journey with God and follow with new faith.
If you're able,
Extend your arms out and turn your palms up in a posture of release towards the Creator.
Our bodies are an important part of prayer.
The Christian scriptures tell us of a very practical spiritual opportunity.
Cast your cares towards the divine.
Imagine you wrote the situations and feelings you are having about your transition on the palms of your hands.
What words would be there?
God,
We place into your hands these things on our hands.
We give to you the aspects of our lives that are on the move and the impact it is having on our lives.
A lot of meditation teaches the necessary ability to release.
Let's also focus on what healthy things we put into the space of what we release.
If we're releasing the cares of transition,
What are we needing to take on?
As you close your hands and bring them back to your body,
What accompanying assurances do you need as you deal with transition in your life?
How about peace,
Security,
Acceptance,
Faith?
Transitions have the opportunity to help us engage our purpose because they focus us anew on God's plan.
So in prayer,
We slow down and make commitments to our core foundations.
Spend a minute expressing to God how this transition is impacting your life and what freedoms you want to live in.
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 your new path for us and your love that has brought us here.
Taking this time today didn't alter the change that's upon you.
You may have altered your orientation towards that change,
Though.
You may need to take some stronger steps to address this transition in your life,
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.
