Peace I leave with you,
My peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
These words were spoken by Jesus,
Written by John in his gospel chapter 14.
You might find those words difficult to live by,
To not let your heart be troubled and to not be afraid.
This word afraid,
The meaning is a shrinking of the soul,
A dread,
A disturbing.
Maybe you feel your heart is disturbed within you,
Troubled,
That you don't have peace.
Maybe when you think of the future you have dread.
So how do you follow this in your life to not let your heart be troubled?
How is that possible when everywhere you turn right now there is something or someone to promote dread and fear?
Unfortunately this creates a negative cycle for us,
As in us we have a sensor for anything that could cause us harm and when we have a sense of potential harm that sensor becomes even more alert and so looks specifically for negative things that could cause us pain or distress.
This is called the negativity bias.
So the more we feel fear and disturbed the more we see things in the world that confirms and ratifies these feelings and so round and round it goes.
In Psalm 46 it tells us to be still and know that I am God.
Be still in Hebrew the word hapu,
It actually means to stop striving and to relax and then in Psalm 4 it tells us to not be disturbed,
To search our hearts and to be silent.
Is it possible for it to be so simple?
To experience peace we simply have to stop,
To relax,
To be silent.
In our deepest core,
In our spirit,
Our truest self we are not disturbed or in dread we are in perfect peace.
This is the part of us that never strives,
That is perfectly relaxed because it knows God.
Jean Guian the French mystic from the 17th century said,
You are so busy speaking reading and writing that you have no time or place for God.
Make room and God will come in.
So for now let us know that we have nowhere to go and nothing to do and let us make room for God to come in.
I am going to lead you on a journey to your deepest self,
To where peace resides.
Allow yourself to use your imagination as much as possible on this journey.
Imagine yourself to actually be in the places I take you.
I invite you to close your eyes now and let us take some deep breaths in through the nose and out through Allow the body to settle.
Remind yourself God has asked you to do this.
This is your time.
Time to cease striving.
Time to search your heart.
Time for silence.
Give yourself permission now to relax.
Imagine now you have warm oil being poured over your head by Holy Spirit.
The oil is warm and soothing.
It pours over your scalp,
Down your forehead and your face.
It gently cascades over your shoulders,
Chest,
Stomach and back.
You feel the warmth across your whole upper body.
It slides across your thighs and down your legs where it pools around your feet.
You feel as if you are completely wrapped in a cosy warm blanket.
You are safe.
You are esteemed.
You are loved.
The oil has now gone and you can sense that you are outside.
Imagine that you can sense the sunlight shining on your face.
It is a perfect temperature.
It warms your head,
Your face and your arms.
You are bathed in the glow of the sunshine and it makes you feel content.
You feel complete stillness.
You are smiling.
You are safe.
You are cherished.
You are loved.
You now sense that you are sat on a beach.
The sun still shines gloriously upon your face.
You feel the softness of the towel that you are sat upon and if you wish you can bury your toes into the soft white sand.
You hear the waves gently advance and then ebb away.
You hear the sounds of seagulls and insects and the gentle breeze in the palm trees behind you.
You listen to the sound and the rhythm and you contemplate the power,
The mighty,
The huge,
The strange,
The dark,
The stormy,
The gentle,
The calm and the life of the Magnificent Gods of Ocean.
You are safe.
You are treasured.
You are loved.
You Imagine you are now on the ocean,
But you know there is nothing that can harm you here.
No creature,
The water.
You are protected right now.
You feel yourself sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
Sinking.
Sinking.
Sinking.
You feel all tensions,
Worries,
Fears leaving you.
You are completely weightless.
Sinking,
But floating at the same time.
Sinking to the bottom of the ocean,
But you are as light as air.
You now sit at the bottom of the seas.
You can see movement above the waves,
But here where you sit in the deep,
It is still.
It is silent.
It is safe.
Acknowledge the stillness around you and in you.
Acknowledge that life is still up there,
It is still happening,
But here you are.
Imagine that you feel as if your body is dissolving into the ocean.
You are becoming the sea.
Becoming nothing,
But yet here you still are.
The real you.
The truest self.
You are nothing,
But you are in everything.
You are everything.
And here is God.
In all.
In you.
With you.
Whispering.
You are safe.
You are precious.
You are loved,
My child.
Wait.
Be still.
Search your heart.
Be silent.
Wait.
Be calm.
Be bunlar.
At ease.
Here is God.
Search your heart.
Be silent.
And now bring yourself back to this present moment.
Where you are seated right now.
Become aware of yourself in your space.
But remain still.
Remain silent.
Become aware of your breath.
Listen to the ebb and flow of it.
Like the waves of the ocean.
I leave you my peace I leave you my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives peace do I give you my joy.
I leave you my joy I give to you.
Not as the world gives joy do I give you my hope.
I leave you my hope I give to you.
Not as the world gives hope do I give you my love.
I leave you my love I give to you.
Not as the world gives love do I give you my love.
I will not leave you as orphans No I will come to you.
And my father will send you another Even the Holy Spirit of truth.
So don't let your hearts be troubled Neither let them fear any fear.
For the Father and I are beside you With the Spirit inside you.
Just trust and we'll guide you With the Spirit around you.
Just trust we'll surround you With the Spirit within you.
And you can begin to breathe.
I leave you my peace I leave you my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives peace do I give you my joy.
I leave you my joy I give to you.
Not as the world gives joy do I give you my hope.
I leave you my hope I give to you.
Not as the world gives hope do I give you my love.
I leave you my love I give to you.
Not as the world gives love do I give you my love.
