ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 14, 2022
How many times have you said, “I’m going to start that project tomorrow” only to see tomorrow come and go without even a nod of recognition toward the project? Maybe it’s not a project so much as a new habit or change in behavior. When our lives have been structured around a certain routine, and the comfort is there even if it is not the most productive or healthy routine, it is easy to allow the well-known routine to continue to guide us without much thought.
In preparation for my class on Breath Prayers, I have been pretty intentional the last three weeks or so in regard to drawing upon the practice multiple times during the day. One of the prayers I have been using is as follows:
As you breathe in: For the beauty around me
As you breathe out: I am thankful
I have said the prayer as I caught a glimpse of the colors at sunset; watched a couple walking past my house with a child riding a scooter; the full moon the other night; sitting in my backyard fixated on some weeds in my garden that were flowering a rather lovely color; as I looked out at the congregation right before I started to preach; as I lay in bed two nights ago listening to an owl somewhere nearby.
I won’t suggest immediate or dramatic change, but there is something in the pattern of saying the prayer 6, 8 or 12 times and allowing my breath to enter and exit my lungs that refocuses and maybe even begins to rewire something inside of us.
Prayer
As you breathe in: May I be still
As you breathe out: And know that you are God
