Greetings,
Friend.
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighborhood monk in dogs.
Welcome back for another installment and the final installment in our series.
Stay here.
And over the past,
Today will be the 12th day.
We've been learning to stay.
Learning to notice,
To return,
To let go,
To rest,
To trust,
To abide.
To remember that we don't have to see the whole way ahead and to remember that we're already loved.
And of course,
The very core under all of those things is that simple invitation to stay here.
There's this beautiful moment in John's Gospel,
Chapter 14 and verse 23,
When Jesus says,
We will come to them.
And make our home with them.
And I love that phrase,
Make our home.
Because I think we spend a lot of our lives thinking about God as somewhere or some place that we need to get to,
That we need to get to God,
Wherever.
That somewhere is,
Somewhere beyond us,
Something we need to find somewhere.
Or maybe we see it as a presence that we need to create.
Because of certain practices we do.
If I pray right,
Do this ritual right,
Live this way right,
Then I will create that environment in which I'll be able to get to God.
But Jesus in this little verse gives us a completely different image.
Home.
God makes a home.
With us,
Which means that.
.
.
I guess the spiritual life has nothing to do with getting anywhere.
Rather,
It's about becoming aware of where we already are.
Right here.
We are here,
This breath,
This body,
This room,
This ordinary day,
This unfinished life,
This moment.
Friend,
God isn't waiting for you somewhere further down the road.
And you don't have to create a different version of yourself before you can meet God.
You don't have to solve your life before you can rest.
You don't have to understand everything before you can trust or stop being human.
Before you can be loved,
You can stay.
Think back.
Over the last 12 days to some of those moments that we shared.
When You didn't know what came next.
You didn't need the whole road,
You only needed enough light.
For the next step.
And when you needed to let go,
You discovered that you didn't have to carry everything yourself.
When you felt alone,
You remembered that presence doesn't always have to be felt to be real.
For those moments when you were trying too hard,
You heard the invitation to abide.
When you need it rest.
You're reminded that you don't have to earn the right to stop.
You just can.
When you needed to remember who you are,
You heard that word,
Beloved.
And none of those things.
Require you.
To be anything or anyone but yourself.
Each of those things invites us to come home to what is already true.
And maybe deep down,
That's what this series,
Stay Here.
Has been all about all along.
Becoming present enough in this life as we go through this world to discover God right there within that life and within this world,
Within the conversations and the coffee.
And the hard decision and the walk outside.
In the person sitting beside you and in the silence.
In the uncertainty and in the ordinary moments every day.
God makes a home.
Here.
So take one more slow deep breath in.
.
.
And out.
And just notice.
And maybe in the quiet of your heart,
Just say a little breath prayer.
Breathing in,
Here I am.
And breathing out.
Here you are.
Breathing in.
.
.
Here I am,
Breathing out.
Here you are.
Let me give you just a couple of minutes to sit with that breath prayer and with God in this moment as we stay here.
You you you you Here I am.
Here you are.
No.
Lightning bolt.
Answers from the sky.
No big aha moment.
Just presence.
Because friend there's going to be another difficult day.
There'll be another moment somewhere along the line where you'll forget,
You'll try too hard.
You'll pick up and carry.
You'll need to begin again and that's okay.
You can always return to stop,
Be still,
To breathe in,
To be here and stay here.
Back to your breath.
Back to love.
Back to God.
Back to home.
And maybe when you leave this reflection and return to your day,
Don't take a lesson with you.
Take awareness,
A little bit more awareness of the spaciousness.
And the willingness to notice what's already here,
Who.
Is already here.
You don't have to go anywhere or become anything,
All you have to do.
He's stoned.
Because I wonder whether God has been saying all along to us,
This,
This moment.
This is home.
So wherever you go.
Next.
Toe gently.
And in the moments that you forget.
Come back.
When you don't know?
Stay.
When you're tired.
Rest.
When you're carrying too much,
Put something down.
When you feel alone,
Remember presence.
When you try too hard,
Abide.
And when you forget who you are,
Remember who you are.
Beloved.
And there's nothing more you need to do.
Just breathe.
Just be.
And just stay.
And in that quiet.
You might just discover that you were never trying to find your way home because.
.
.
You've learned to recognize.
That you are all ready.
So will you join me in a prayer as we close this last session?
God of this moment,
Thank you for meeting us here,
For the moments when we noticed you.
And for the moments when we didn't.
For the times we've rested.
The times we struggle to let go,
For the paths that we could see and the paths we couldn't.
For the love we recognised and the love that held us when we couldn't recognise it.
Teachers.
To return when we wonder?
Bring us home.
When we're afraid,
Give us enough light for the next step.
When we're carrying too much,
Teach us what we can put down.
When we're tired,
Remind us that we can rest.
When we forget who we are.
Remind us that we are beloved.
And in those ordinary moments of every day,
Help us to notice you.
Here in this breath.
In this moment.
In this life.
May we go gently.
May we remain open.
May we learn to abide and may we discover again.
And again,
That wherever we are.
You are there.
And that wherever you are,
We are home.
And may grace,
Peace and love be with us and remain with us as we stay here today and always.
Thank you so much for walking this path with me over the last 12 days.
And thank you also for your continued support for the work that I'm doing here at Insight Timer.
Your messages,
Your donations,
All a beautiful gift that helps sustain this work and it's such a blessing to be a blessing to you.
Thank you.
For including me with you in that way.
I hope you'll join us for the next series.
Until then,
Grace and peace.
Bye for now.
