If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough. -Meister Eckhart
In times of sudden danger most people call out, "O my God!"
Why would they keep doing this if it didn't help?
Only a fool keeps going back where nothing happens.
The whole world lives within a safeguarding, fish
inside waves, birds held in the sky, the elephant,
the wolf, the lion as he hunts, the dragon, the ant,
the waiting snake, even the ground, the air,
the water, every spark floating up from the fire,
all subsist, exist, are held in the divine. Nothing
is ever alone for a single moment.
All giving comes from There, no matter who
you think you put your open hand out
toward, it's That which gives.
-Rumi
There are many levels of prayer but a most familiar one to me is, please God, help me!
We are held. Held as " fish inside waves, as birds held in the sky." Do you find comfort in Rumi's words and images? I know I do. Just as our breath sails the wind, we search within and without ourselves for that missing peace.
In her podcast, "Conscious Prayer-Finding True Refuge in Loving Awareness" Tara Brach encourages us to begin to notice how our thoughts and our feelings that arise can be self limiting. I appreciate her insight that "thoughts may be real but not necessarily true." This leads us towards on a path of self discovery, to recognize and explore the prayer of our longing, which is continually calling us home towards to our true belonging; our refuge.
Perhaps, The whole of our lives is a prayer, especially in awareness that we are not separate but held in Love.
May you sail on the wings of Love as you accept the invitation of your true belonging.
Liz Sorensen Wessel
Watercolors-Bird in Flight by ~liz
