renewal of our senses

This morning, I will be reading this prayer..... I wanted to share it with you in hopes you will be there with me in spirit.....!  Happy Sunday Morning!!

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Let us take a moment to be still together and take in a collective deep breath............

Good morning dear God.

As we gather here before You with refreshed breath of Your Spirit, we give our heartfelt thanks for the simple extraordinary gifts You provide with abundance every single day. Sometimes miss them in the flurry of our lives.  Today, in our stillness and in our hearts…….

We hear…….

the song of the birds
the voice of a troubadour
the encouraging words of a friend.
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons streaming out into the open air....

Let us feel…..

the touch of a loved one
the peace of tranquility
the marvel of a connection.
the embrace of gratitude.
the breeze of a spring day.
The kiss of respect.

Help us inhale….
the aroma of fresh mown grass
the sun bursting with rain
the lingering scent of clean laundry
the wafting essence of lavender bubbles
Our Grandmother’s perfume

let us remember the taste of…..

fresh strawberries
cold water
peppermint coolness
The sweet miraculous drop of maple syrup

Let us envision….

Our children engaged in play
A solitary paddler gliding upriver
a white tailed deer stepping out of the woods
our own beautiful reflection
the smile of a friend.....
the eyes of a stranger.
Humans
Humans all around us who may be lost on their journey.

In our stillness, God, help us to remember how to take those steps towards accepting the changes in our lives knowing that sometimes you have to grieve a thousand times before you can inhale the refreshed scent of an old breeze.  Help us to walk into the centre of our vulnerable holy space over and over again to touch upon the wound that weeps those trapped remembering tears so that the old stories of a loved one can be told again with a merciful heart and a smile.   Help us help others who are in need of this support too.

Thank you God for surrounding us with those signs of renewal….. beacons which allow us to reflect upon our own transformations.  Through our life experiences, we learn that we share the same feelings, similar moments of happiness and heartbreak.  This is what blends our souls in a spiritual sense of oneness.  We all know the feeling of hungry hope.  You have provided us with this gift, God.  Hope, you have taught us, is a companion of a broken spirit.  It is the oxygen in the breeze that caresses our restless sufferings with tenderness.  Hope reminds renewal to be patient with its re-emerging and teaches renewal that most of our personal growth will be invisible on the outside, but colourfully recognizable when we gaze inwardly to speak to You.

Through our suffering God, we are learning to let go…. To surrender our pain.  Through surrendering, we are learning how interconnected we are with You with one another.  Its good to feel loved in a much different way than perhaps we have ever felt before.

Forgive us dear God, for we are often slow to catch on because we tend to veer out into the wild and lose our way busy trying to deal with the events life throws at us.  Please help us remember that what may feel overwhelming today will soften in the light of days to come.  Please remind us God that renewal doesn't occur because of one event.  It may be the spark that ignites the change in direction, but it is not the conclusion.  Rather, it is the foundation we rely upon for support as we ride the waves of change, one wave at a time.

With your Guidance God, we will learn to walk aided and unaided........ to take risks while learning as much from our hurts as we do our triumphs.  By so doing, we learn that we belong to a universe who shares the same feelings, who thrive and survive, who suffer and feel joy, who nurture and are nurtured by one another.

As pilgrims dear God, guide us to share a story with another, to have that conversation that feels too difficult to start, to use the gift of our senses so that we can appreciate the freshness of this season, to delight in the knowledge that we are unfinished beautiful human sculptures who know how to give love and kindness with respect.  

May we leave here today with a lighter fullness in our walk, refreshed breath of the Holy Spirit  and the energy to pass our goodness onto to others. 

Amen.