Happy Wednesday! You’re halfway through the week – way to go!
Most of us are operating with a low-grade sense of anxiety always lurking in the background. Even if things are going great for you, they are different. And adjusting often causes us some stress. If things aren’t going great for you, this is even more true. Today, we are talking about what if might look like if we operated differently.
What would happen if we decided to quiet our souls?
I had a conversation with Pastor Jan recently asking her about ways to use our breath to calm our souls. She reminded me of a favorite verse of hers from Psalm 131: 2 – but I have stilled and quieted my soul. We are going to turn it into a simple prayer:
Lord, still and quiet my soul.
Our resource today is a type of prayer called breath prayers. It is a way for us to use something that we do all day, everyday to draw us back to God. Here are some simple ways for us to practice breath prayers in our lives.
- breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose – naturally and unforced
- visualize a place or image that makes you feel at peace while focusing on your breath – you could even put that image as the background of your device for school or phone
- breathe in peace, breathe out anxiety; breathe in grace, breathe out forgiveness; breathe in love, breathe out fear
- if you find yourself stressed by the news and state of our world, imagine your breath as a fog – as you pray for a specific place or situation, imagine sending your breath to that place and covering it
Reflecting on breath is one of my favorite ways to remember God’s presence. In Genesis, scripture says that God’s Spirit hovered over creation. The Hebrew word used for “Spirit” is the same word that means “breath.” God spoke and things came to be. It was the power of the Spirit, His breath, that put the world into motion and sustains life today.
This means our breath is a reminder for us that the Holy Spirit dwells in each of us, and that we are never alone.
We can use breath prayers to start or end our day, as we’re walking through the hallways, when we are feeling stressed, or when we sit down to read our Bibles and pray. They are simple yet powerful, and we can carry them with us wherever we go.
Grace and peace,
Jenny
