The Welcoming Prayer: Saying Yes To Daily Life

Follow this guided practice to welcome the divine indwelling amid daily life - whether chaotic or calm. Begins with a sacred pause to welcome whatever is arising - internally or externally - to let go of your need for security, affection, and control, and to surrender to the healing divine presence.

Transcript

Welcome to this guided practice of the Welcoming Prayer.

The Welcoming Prayer is a practice of recognizing what is arising in the present moment as a way of opening to the presence and action of God,

A means of saying yes to Divine Grace in every circumstance and situation.

It is a helpful addition to a regular meditation or contemplative prayer practice that brings an active willingness to consent into daily life.

The first step is to feel and sink into what you are experiencing this moment in your body.

Begin by pausing to take three slow,

Deep breaths,

Focusing especially on emptying all the way out on your exhale so that your body is naturally compelled to take that next breath in.

Now,

Allow your awareness to drop down from your head into your heart center,

Expanding out from your heart center to the entire body.

As you do this,

The next step is to welcome what you are experiencing this moment in your body as an opportunity to consent to the Divine Indwelling.

Explore the full range of your body's awareness like a curious explorer,

Noting what you are feeling and where you are feeling it without adding any resistance or judgment,

Without any need to change or to fix anything.

Finally,

Let go by saying,

I let go of my desire for security,

Affection,

And control,

And I embrace this moment as it is.

I let go of my desire for security,

Affection,

And control,

And I embrace this moment as it is.

And we'll conclude with words from Denise Levertov in her poem,

The Oval.

As swimmers dare to lie face to the sky,

And water bears them up,

As hawks rest upon air and air sustains them,

So would I learn to attain,

Free fall,

And float into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,

Knowing no effort earns that all surrounding grace.

Reviews

Profoundly freeing!
Love the letting go into the flow of Divine Presence.
Thanks for this beautiful Prayer 🙏🤲🙏

I love this...it brought me closer to my spiritual self and closer to God's grace and touch ✨️ 🙏

How freeing. This prayer and poem calls me to be open and welcoming to the divine spirit and release my clutch on control. Thank you.

Love this calming prayer to be present and let go accompanied by a subtle piano and then ended with a lovely poem. Namaste 🙏

Wonderful! Thank you. A powerful reminder of the grace that is built right into this magnificent, nurturing world. A-men! Thank you for this. Linda

Beautiful prayer enjoyed the meditating influence ❤️🙏

Thank you for this short meditation and this poem ✨️

Love your meditations. They really do bring presence and connection to Higher Self and to a Higher Power. I feel calmer more present and a sense of trust in life 🙏

A wonderful meditation that felt much longer than its 5:27; it had a beginning, middle and an end and left me, in the form of a poem, with a much-needed prompt about trusting and letting go. Thank you for your work, Thomas

The poem at the end was the exact statement that I needed. A picture of grace without effort. Thanks!

Beautiful 💜 adding this to my list of morning meditations 🧘‍♀️

I love this because it centers me with breath and then reminds me of the loving grace that surrounds me.

Thank you for teaching me to let go, and to God’s grace

The affirmation to embrace this moment and the teflective poem were the moment launching this Christmas Day. Thank you.

This meditation moved me toward a new surrender this morning. Thank you ✨

Thanks for a great orientation to my day: clear, present, connected.

My prayer was answered with this meditation! Thank you💜

Succinct practice to tune into self . Pleasant piano music between guided pauses. Helpful as I learn how to tune in and to heal my inner child . Thank you 🙏 .

Thanks. I will share with a friend. This helped to calm my usual morning nerves.

Wonderful start to the day! A heartfelt prayer. Thanks so much! 🙏🏽💚🌞😊🕊️