Greetings friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighborhood monk in docks.
Welcome back to another installment of the Calm Beneath the Storm.
Over the past few days we've been exploring the movement beneath the storms of life.
We notice the waves at the surface and we practice descending into the quieter waters beneath them.
And today we explore something even deeper.
The discovery that the deeper water isn't still in the sense of being empty,
It is in fact alive with movement.
As we begin though,
Let's bring ourselves fully into this moment.
Allow your body to rest,
Find a comfortable position.
Breathe in and out.
Allow your mind,
Your heart and your body to be fully present in this moment.
And as we begin,
Imagine yourself once more in the ocean.
Now we know that at the surface the waves move constantly,
Wind passes across the water,
Everything feels unsettled.
But beneath the surface there's deeper movements,
Ocean currents that are slow,
Steady and powerful.
They move,
Albeit quietly,
Move through the water and they carry everything with them.
Fish,
Plants,
Entire ecosystems move with these currents.
And quite often they do so without any effort.
They are simply carried along.
The early Christians used similar language when speaking about the presence of God.
In the book of Acts,
In chapter 17,
We hear Saint Paul use these words.
He says,
In him we live and move and have our being.
Notice those words carefully.
Live.
Move.
Be.
God is never distant from our lives,
Friends.
We exist within the presence of God,
Like fish living within the ocean.
And when the movements and currents of this ocean move,
So do we go with it.
So for the next few moments,
Imagine yourself resting in this deeper water.
The waves of thought may still appear at the surface,
But here in the deeper water,
There is a quiet,
Gentle current,
A movement of life,
Because this movement is life itself.
Bring your attention to your breathing,
Breathing in and out.
Allow the breath to move naturally,
No effort.
And now imagine that beneath you there's a slow,
Steady current.
You're not struggling to try and move,
You're simply floating,
Carried along,
Held within the deeper movement of God.
There's nothing you need to do,
Nothing you need to force,
Just rest.
If thoughts arise,
Allow them to drift by like small riffles at the surface,
But you remain here in the deeper water,
Held within this current that moves you along gently and slowly.
And now I'm going to invite you to introduce a posture of listening.
I'm not listening for a voice or for a message,
But listening with the heart,
Quietly attentive,
Aware of the presence that surrounds and carries you.
And you might gently say in your heart,
I am here,
And simply rest in that awareness.
And as you do,
Let's just allow for a few quiet moments to rest with this deeper current,
Breathing softly,
Listening gently,
Carried by the presence of God,
I am here.
And now slowly begin to bring your awareness back to the room around you.
Feel your body again,
The surface beneath you,
The space you're in,
And take one slightly deeper breath as you open your eyes.
And as you move through the rest of the day today,
Remember this image,
You're not alone struggling through the water of life,
You are already within the deeper current of God.
And sometimes prayer is simply remembering that you are being carried.
And my grace,
Peace and love be with you as you are carried along today and always.
Amen.
Until tomorrow,
Peace be with you.
Amen.
