Sometimes,
Life can be loud.
The noise around us can consume us.
The voices of others,
The news,
Social media,
Whatever may be distracting you lately,
Notice it.
Take a deep breath,
And let it go,
And let's use this time to draw near to the Lord.
Settle in a place of stillness,
Finding softness throughout the body.
Soften the space between the brows,
And clench your jaw.
Soften your shoulders away from the ears.
Soften the belly,
And notice the breath.
See if you can begin to lengthen your breath,
Taking deeper and fuller breaths in,
And finding complete release and softening out.
We invite God into this space.
Lord,
You are here.
We invite your presence in,
As we allow ourselves to find stillness and draw near to you,
And become close to you,
Because life is feeling loud right now.
In the midst of uncertainty,
Chaos in the world,
Turmoil and conflict around us,
As well as inner struggle within our minds and our own bodies,
We surrender it all to you,
Lord.
As we wring our palms so that they face out,
Resting on our knees,
Palms facing up in a posture of surrender and release,
We know that we are not meant to do life alone.
We're not meant to carry all of this alone.
So in this space where life is feeling really loud right now,
Lord,
We pause,
We get still,
We draw near,
We surrender it all to you.
Speak to us in this moment.
Allow us to feel your presence and lean into you.
James 4,
8 says,
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
So let's pause for a few more moments of stillness and continue to invite God into your heart and draw near to him in this space.
Feel free to stay here as long as you need,
But when you're ready,
We'll close this practice with one final cleansing breath,
Breathing in deeply through your nose.
Release out of your mouth.
And gently introducing some small movement,
Wiggling fingers and toes,
Maybe rocking the head side to side and gently opening the eyes.
Thank you for joining me today,
Friend.
