Hello my friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks.
Welcome back to another instalment in our series,
The Calm Beneath the Storm.
And over the past few days,
You've been learning to descend,
To move beneath the surface of the storm.
Learning to rest in the deeper water and become familiar with the quiet presence of Christ within.
Today,
We're going to shift the movement just slightly.
We've done a lot of descending,
But there also comes a time to rise again.
We begin by settling the body,
Allowing ourselves to become still.
Let your shoulders soften,
Your hands rest gently.
Take a slow breath in,
A gentle breath out.
And as you settle,
Just let your breathing become calm and natural.
And I invite you to imagine yourself once more beneath the surface of the ocean.
The water is quiet and still here.
You're at ease,
You are held within the deeper presence of God.
And I invite you just for a few moments to just simply rest here,
Breathing in and breathing out.
And now begin to imagine yourself rising in the water.
Not too quickly or suddenly,
But slowly,
Calmly,
Moving upwards through the water.
And as you rise,
Notice something that's important to remember.
That you're not leaving the calm behind.
That stillness and space of rest remains within you.
Now up above,
The surface is still moving.
The waves are still there.
Life continues.
Work,
Relationships,
Responsibilities,
All waiting at the surface.
But you are rising differently.
Now you're in a space,
Having spent some time below the surface,
Where you're not hurried.
You're not tense.
But rather you're grounded.
And you carry the calm that you've found beneath the surface of the water back towards the surface with you.
Now in John's Gospel,
Just after the resurrection,
Jesus appears to the disciples and says the words,
Peace,
Be with you.
And I invite you to let those words rest within you now.
Peace,
Be with you.
May it become a prayer,
Breathing in peace,
And breathing out,
Be with you.
And as you continue to rise towards the surface,
Allow that peace to fill your awareness with every breath.
Remembering that this isn't something that you have to create,
But it's something that you have been given.
And it's something that is still present within you.
Just because you're rising to the surface doesn't mean the rest that you have found has been taken away.
And now imagine yourself arriving just beneath the surface.
The light's brighter,
The movement on the surface of the water is more noticeable,
But still within you,
There is a sense of calm.
And again,
Bring your attention to your breath.
And with each breath out,
Imagine that you are gently releasing peace.
Breathing in,
And breathing out,
Peace.
And again,
Breathing in,
And breathing out,
Peace.
And as you keep breathing,
Just allow this rhythm,
Receiving and offering.
Peace in,
And peace out,
Held and giving.
And imagine this peace moving through you,
Into your body,
Into your mind,
And then outward into the space around you.
Into the places that you'll go,
The people that you'll meet,
And the moments that you will encounter.
And I invite you just to rest here for a few moments,
Just breathing in,
And breathing out,
Peace.
The storm might still be going on above you,
But peace remains within you,
And it's a peace that you can share into the situation and the people that you encounter.
And then gently bring your awareness back to the room around you.
Noticing your breathing,
And your body.
And as you prepare to rise and move into your day,
Remember that walking a life in faith is not about escaping the surface.
You will have to return to the surface of life,
But you don't have to return empty.
You carry something with you,
A deep peace,
A groundedness,
And from that place you can meet whatever comes in the storms that go on above.
And may grace,
Peace,
And love go with you and be with you every step of the way,
Now and always.
Amen.
Until next time,
May God's peace be with you.
