Friday Morning Prayer 2/4

Grand Rising family,

Good morning,

Good morning.

Opening this prayer this morning with a few moments of silence.

Let us just listen to the beautiful sounds.

Thank you spirit.

Thank you for the plethora of magical sounds that you present through your ways of nature.

This morning I am coming on here to speak to you about the practice when you don't want to practice.

The practice of prayer,

The practice of meditation,

The practice of right speech,

The practice of right action.

The practice of patience and kindness.

Because you're not always going to feel good.

You're not always going to have the best or highest feel good feelings.

And that is where the practice comes into play.

That is where God's grace comes into play.

And so I wanted to remind us all,

Especially myself this morning.

When you have those moments of not feeling your best,

Not feeling the greatest.

Whether it's physically or mentally,

Emotionally,

Whatever has come up for you.

This is the beauty of the practice.

This is the art and the science of what it means to actually practice.

You want to receive more love in your life?

Practice love.

You want to receive more patience in your life?

Practice more patience.

You want to receive more kindness and tenderness in your life from others?

Practice being kind and tender to yourself and others.

Whatever it is that we are looking to receive,

Whatever it is that we are looking to receive from others.

We must first embody and practice that art.

Whatever it is.

Patience,

Kindness,

Abundance,

Listening.

And so often we're looking externally.

We're looking for someone else.

Our child,

Our spouse,

Our partner,

Our boyfriend,

Our girlfriend,

Our best friend,

Our mom,

Our dad,

Our grandparents.

We're looking outside of ourselves for this acceptance,

For this love,

For this guidance,

For this patience,

For the kindness.

But we must embody it within our own being.

We must embody it so that we practice it within ourselves.

And we must embody it so that we are practicing it when we are with others.

It's so easy to get caught up when things are great,

When things are going as planned.

It's so easy to be in joy when the sun is shining and there's an abundance of finances in the account.

When the car is running as planned,

When the mortgage is paid in advance,

When you're able to pay all of your bills.

It's easy to be in joy.

It's easy to be in joy when you have found yourself in love.

It's easy to be in joy and happiness when you have found yourself with great people in your life.

Friends,

Family,

Co-workers.

It's easy to be in joy.

It's easy to praise and be in love with God in those moments.

But what about the moments of doubt?

What about the moments of despair?

What about the moments of strife?

Or maybe you recently lost a loved one in the physical realm.

What about the days and the seasons when you're just crying?

What about the days when it's raining?

That is where the practice comes into play.

And as I speak to you,

The sun is shining because it has not been out yet this morning.

As I speak to you,

As I share,

As I remain open and vulnerable in my own struggle in moments,

In my own moments of doubt,

Or in my own moments of having a thought of lack.

This is the practice.

Thank you,

Spirit,

For awareness.

Thank you,

Spirit,

For my ability and my want to pray.

Thank you for my want to journal this morning.

Thank you for my want to practice yoga this morning with my dear friend,

Ariana.

Thank you for the sty in my eye that is ridding my body temple of anything that is foreign and does not serve me.

So I specifically want to hone in this morning on the practice.

Practice being love.

Practice being a joyful being.

Practice being a patient being.

Practice being a kind being.

Practice listening without a specific agenda to respond.

Practice listening without a specific agenda to prove you being right or you prove this knowledge that you have.

We can have all the knowledge in the world,

But if we don't apply wisdom and discernment,

That knowledge is useless.

And so I want us to focus this morning.

Not every day are you going to feel your best.

Not every moment throughout the day are you going to feel your best.

Not every day is the sun going to come and present itself.

Maybe some days it's going to stay behind the clouds.

It doesn't mean that you don't practice.

It doesn't mean that you don't put your best foot forward.

And if your best foot forward today is rest and hydrating the body temple and providing the body temple with proper food and high nutrients,

Then that's what it is for you today.

There is no comparison between you and anyone else.

You do what it is that you need in this moment and in every other moment throughout the day.

Whatever that practice looks like for you.

Not your mom,

Not your spouse,

Not your child,

Not your co-worker,

Not your boss,

Not the man on the bus or the woman at the grocery store.

You practice according to what it is that you need in this moment and the moments throughout the day.

Because all we ever have is right now.

Yeah,

It's great to have goals.

Yeah,

It's cool to have a whiteboard or a chalkboard where we have these things that we want to accomplish.

It's beautiful to have a vision board where we have our dreams that we can see.

All of that is beautiful and all of that is perfect.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

And in that,

We could not have another breath.

And so right now in this moment,

What is it that you need?

What is it that you need?

Not what someone else says that you need.

What is it that you need?

And only you can know that.

Only you can get quiet enough,

Quiet enough to listen to the sounds and the rhythm of your pulse and your heart and your breath.

Whether you live with someone,

Maybe you have a roommate,

Maybe you live alone,

Maybe you have multiple roommates,

Maybe you still live at home with your family.

The practice is to get quiet enough so that you can know what you need.

Because we have to stop putting this expectation on other people to provide us with what we need.

Nobody can do for us what we can do for ourselves.

Yes,

We're here to do life together.

Yes,

We're here to be in community and to assist and to share.

Absolutely.

I'm not taking anything away from that.

What I am saying is that we must take accountability and responsibility for ourselves,

For our own needs,

For our own hearts desires.

Excuse me.

So when you step outside today and you look at the grass,

When you look at the soil,

When you look at the flowers and the plants and the rocks.

Keep in mind that nature is perfect and that you as an individual are a byproduct of that perfect nature.

God doesn't do do overs.

God doesn't make mistakes.

Everything is always perfect in its absolution and in its perfect orchestration.

It doesn't mean that we as a human have to like it.

It doesn't mean that we are I as an individual have to fully understand it.

But we are here to surrender.

We are here to surrender to the unknown.

And that's where the biggest fear of all comes into play.

We have this ideology in this human form that we want to control everything that we want to control this outcome of a relationship.

We want to control the outcome of a job.

We want to control the outcome of an interview.

We want to control the outcome of our taxes.

We want to control the outcome of a conversation with our parents or a loved one.

God doesn't ask you to be in control.

God asks you to surrender.

And Spirit asks you to show up fully,

Holy and completely as yourself.

Not anyone else and not in the ways that other people think you should be showing up.

This is about you.

This is about you and your unfolding and your expressions and your emanations and your creativity and how you respond to life.

And so I am in gratitude,

Spirit.

I'm in gratitude for this morning.

I'm in gratitude for this amazing,

Beautiful prayer.

I'm in gratitude for discernment.

I'm in gratitude for the eucalyptus trees.

I'm in gratitude for the shelter and the bed that I got to wake up in this morning.

I'm in gratitude for the scarf that is over my head right now,

Keeping my neck warm.

I'm in gratitude for the socks that are on my feet that keep my feet warm.

I'm in gratitude for the hot water when we shower.

I'm in gratitude for the delicious,

Delectable pizza that my brother and I made last night.

And I recognize,

Spirit,

In this moment and in every other moment that there's only you.

There's only your grace.

There's only your joy.

There's only your abundance.

There's only your steadfast peace in the midst of grief.

And I am so grateful to recognize in this moment that I and every other being,

That we are united and that we are unified in your perfect presence,

In your perfect absolution.

I realize in this moment that I don't need to do or be anything specific,

That I am sufficient right here,

Right now,

And that you give us access to you in every single moment of our existence.

I realize that I don't need to have a degree.

I don't need to have thousands of dollars or millions of dollars or multiple places to live.

I realize that God's green earth is my abundance of places to live.

I can go anywhere in the world and call it home because wherever I go and my heart is beating and I have breath in my lungs,

I am at home no matter where I am physically or geographically.

And so I give thanks,

Spirit.

I give thanks for Agape Spiritual Community Center.

I give thanks for Reverend Dr.

Michael Bernard Beckwith.

I give thanks for all of the practitioners.

I give thanks for all the yoga instructors.

I give thanks for all of the human beings that make a point in their day to pray for the collective,

That make a point in their day to be in silence and solitude and in joy for the collective.

Because joy is present.

Peace is present.

Abundance is present.

None of this needs to be created.

And so I give thanks,

Spirit.

I release this prayer,

Release this word.

I'm so grateful for the sunshine,

So grateful for the rain and the mud and the soil,

So grateful for the warm cuddles at night from Zen,

So grateful for each and every single being that teaches me patience,

That opens and expands my heart so that I am more raw than ever,

So that I am down to the bone and the marrow,

So that I release anything and everything in my physical,

Mental and emotional body that does not serve me.

I release this prayer by saying,

And so it is because it is.

And so be it because it is.

I love you,

God.

I thank you for your presence in my heart.

I thank you for your presence in my life.

And I thank you for your presence in the lives of the collective,

Because anything I know to be true for myself,

I know to be true for each and every being.

Wherever you are in this,

As you listen to this,

Whatever day you listen to it,

You are blessed.

You are prayed for.

You are cherished.

You are seen.

You are respected.

You are worthy.

You are whole and complete.

And love is present right where you are.

Create the most magical day for yourself.

I love you,

Family.