Receiving The Fruits Of The Spirit

This is a meditation called receiving the fruits of the spirit.

Receiving the fruits of the spirit.

So I invite you to get comfortable wherever you are.

You may be lying down or in a seated position or even standing.

And if you're driving please keep your eyes open and where they need to be.

But if you're not driving and you're in a position in which you can close your eyes or cast them down,

I invite you to do so.

This allows you to draw your attention further into the inner landscape.

And then just settle into wherever you are,

Whatever position you've chosen.

And draw your attention to your hips.

Noticing any feelings and sensations in your hips.

Making contact with whatever's beneath you.

And then pulling through your hips to elongate your spine.

But a nice long spine,

Not rigid,

But a nice long spine that sends a signal to the brain that I'm awake,

I'm alert,

I'm present.

Even if my eyes are closed,

I'm here.

I'm engaged.

You may want to roll your shoulders a couple times or do a couple shoulder shrugs.

And when that feels complete,

Leaving your shoulders in a back position.

So you've got this nice long spine,

Pull through the hips,

An opening in your chest.

You always think of that chest being open allows for more room for the Holy Spirit to breathe into that heart space and land.

Good.

And just draw your attention to your breath.

I invite you to do a bit of elongated breath.

Where you're just extending the in breath and the out breath.

Or you can think of it simply as taking a couple really deep breaths,

So elongating the inhale and the exhale.

And then taking a moment to see yourself in your mind's eye.

Taking in the wholeness of your being.

Your totality in this present moment.

And noticing that whatever thoughts are going through your mind,

There is room here for them.

Whatever may be stirring in your heart,

There is room enough for whatever is in your heart.

Whatever feelings and sensations may be present in the physical body,

Even if that includes pain.

There is room for that here.

Whatever is stirring in your soul,

In your spirit,

There's room to be aware of that and to be with that here.

So just having a full awareness of your wholeness in this moment,

Mind,

Body,

Soul,

Spirit.

And holding all of that with this gentle sense of awareness.

Bringing a spirit of warmth,

Love,

Kindness.

A sense of generosity for wherever you are in this present moment.

And now I invite you to anchor your attention again in your breath.

I'd like for you to choose an anchoring place to alighten your attention on breath.

So that might be the life-giving air moving in and out of your nostrils.

It may be the slight rise and fall of your chest.

It may be the slight expansion and deflation of your belly.

There's no right or wrong answers.

You just choose what feels most responsive to you in this present moment.

And staying with that sense of breath,

See if there is a way in which you are opening to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

So even when I say that,

It makes me want to realign my back,

Roll my shoulders back again to create that opening in my chest.

And with this sense of ease in my body,

Having a sense of openness to the movement of the Holy Spirit moving in and through me.

And as the Spirit moves through us,

There are times where we may feel as if the Spirit is blessing us with a fruit of the Spirit.

The fruits of the Spirit,

According to Galatians,

Are love,

Joy,

Peace,

Patience,

Kindness,

Generosity,

Faithfulness,

Gentleness,

And self-control.

So what we're going to do for the remainder of this meditation is that we're going to ask for the Spirit's help in receiving these blessings,

Receiving these fruits,

These gifts of the Spirit.

So we'll take them one by one.

So staying with the breath,

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your love.

Help me to receive it in my mind.

Help me to receive your love in my heart.

Help me to receive your love in my soul and in my spirit.

Help me to receive your love in my body.

And ever so gently scanning your body for any feelings and sensations that you associate with receiving God's love.

And just breathe with that sense of love,

A felt sense of God's love.

Let us receive joy.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your joy.

Help me to receive it in my mind.

Help me to receive your joy in my heart.

Help me to receive your joy in my soul and my spirit.

Help me to notice the feelings and sensations in my body where your joy exists.

And then breathing with,

Breathing with that sense of joy wherever you find it,

Wherever you have a felt sense of the presence of joy.

The fruit of the Spirit is peace.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your peace in my mind.

Help me to receive your peace in my heart.

Help me to receive your peace in my soul and my spirit.

Help my body to receive your peace.

And gently scanning your body for any glimmer of peace that you may be experiencing.

And then breathing with that feeling of peace wherever it might be.

The fruit of the Spirit is patience.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your patience in my mind.

Help me to receive your patience in my heart.

Help me to receive your patience in my soul and my spirit.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your patience in my body.

And just scanning your body ever so gently,

Noticing even the smallest glimmer of patience showing up in your felt sense.

The fruit of the Spirit is kindness.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your kindness in my mind.

Holy Spirit,

Bless my heart with your kindness.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your kindness in my soul and in my spirit.

Help me to receive your kindness in my body.

Again,

Just ever so gently scanning the body for any sense of kindness.

Any sense of the presence of God's kindness in your body in this present moment.

Giving yourself the gift of breathing with that presence.

The fruit of the Spirit is generosity.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive generosity in my mind.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive generosity in my heart.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive the gift of generosity in my soul and in my spirit.

And help me to notice feelings and sensations in my body of your generosity.

The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your faithfulness.

Help me to receive your faithfulness in my mind.

In my heart.

Faithfulness in my soul and in my spirit.

Help me to receive faithfulness in my body.

Breathing with any sense of faithfulness.

The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your gentleness in my mind.

Help my heart to receive your gentleness.

Help my spirit and soul to receive your gentleness.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive your gentleness in every fiber and cell of my body.

Breathing with any felt sense of gentleness.

An openness to be present to the gift of gentleness.

Quite possibly flowing through every fiber and cell of your body and your being.

And last but not least,

The fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive,

Help me to receive self-control,

A sense of equanimity in my mind.

Holy Spirit,

Help me to receive the gift of self-control in my heart.

Help me to receive self-control in my soul and in my spirit.

And gracious Spirit,

Help me to experience self-control in my body.

Just scanning your body ever so gently for this gift,

This fruit of self-control.

The gift of equanimity,

A sense of balance.

And having asked for the Spirit's help in receiving these fruits and gifts,

Allowing yourself to simply be with.

Be with your totality.

Be with your wholeness.

Be with anything that's moving through your mind,

Anything stirring in your heart,

Your soul,

Your spirit.

Anything present in your body.

Now gently scan the body,

Noticing what arises,

Which fruit,

Which gift is most present to you in this moment?

With the gift of love,

Joy,

Peace,

Patience,

Kindness,

Generosity,

Faithfulness,

Gentleness,

Self-control.

Just see what's here for you.

See which gift is most present in your mind,

In your heart,

Your soul,

Your spirit,

Your body.

Giving yourself the gift of breathing with that gift.

Dwelling in the presence of the Holy Spirit,

Aware of the gifts the Spirit bestows upon your life.

Really allowing yourself to receive this gift and allowing it to be integrated in mind,

Body,

Soul,

And spirit.

You may even want to place a hand over your heart,

Just a sense of whatever is most present for you in this moment.

It'll likely be different the next time you do this meditation,

Or maybe it won't,

Who knows.

But it's about staying with the wisdom of your body.

What does it need to receive?

What gift do you yearn to receive?

And maybe it's a yearning to receive more of.

When you feel ready,

Opening your eyes if you've had them closed.

Taking a couple deep cleansing breaths,

You may even want to extend your arms up over your head,

And then releasing them out and down on the out breath.

In and up,

And out,

Arms coming down.

Beautifully done.

Beautifully done.

You may even want to congratulate yourself or offer a sense of gratitude for making this space to dwell in the presence of the spirit and to practice receiving the gifts,

The fruits of the spirit at any moment.

I pray blessings upon the rest of your day or night,

And I very much hope that you will see a ripple effect.

Your fruit was most present for you,

I pray that you not only have a strong sense of that gift in your body,

Mind,

Soul,

And spirit in this moment as we close the meditation,

My also my hope is that the eyes of your heart stay open to see how this fruit has a ripple effect through your day,

How it might affect your interactions with other people,

How this gift might be a gift to your mind and your thinking and your decision making,

How it may be a gift to your own heart as you make yourself present to your feelings,

Your emotions that stir within you.

And may the gift be a blessing to your soul and your spirit.

I hope that you may find that you are better able and capable of sharing this fruit with other people.

Blessings.