This week, as we come closer to Christmas Day, we put our focus on feeling gratitude towards God. We challenged ourselves to harness the feeling of gratitude with God at the center of our meditation and used the following scriptures for inspiration.
original drawing by M. Estes Zywar
Ephesians 5:19
Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’Colossians 3:16
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
The breath prayers derived from these scriptures were to inhale on “Seek the Lord” or “Love the Lord” and exhale on “with all your heart” or “Sing and make music” on the inhale and “from your heart to the Lord” on the exhale.
For our stretching portion of the class, Kris Cross led us in a relaxation process called constructive rest position. During this time we practiced a method of relaxation where we focused on different parts of the body and relaxed our muscles with the help of a metaphor, visualizing our bodies as a sac of sand. As we focused on each muscle group we imagined the sand pouring out of the sac and the sac collapsing.
For our stretching portion of the class, Kris Cross led us in a relaxation process called constructive rest position. During this time we practiced a method of relaxation where we focused on different parts of the body and relaxed our muscles with the help of a metaphor, visualizing our bodies as a sac of sand. As we focused on each muscle group we imagined the sand pouring out of the sac and the sac collapsing.
Our closing prayer for this week:
Dear Lord, as we celebrate Christmas we remember what you have done for us and give thanks for all your good gifts. We pray that our hearts would be full of praise to you. Lord, let the light that you have put in our hearts shine for the world to see as a testimony to your love and grace. May we celebrate fully this Christmas as we sing to you with gratitude in our hearts. -Amen
Dear Lord, as we celebrate Christmas we remember what you have done for us and give thanks for all your good gifts. We pray that our hearts would be full of praise to you. Lord, let the light that you have put in our hearts shine for the world to see as a testimony to your love and grace. May we celebrate fully this Christmas as we sing to you with gratitude in our hearts. -Amen
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| original drawing by Brookye Keeney |
I hope this workshop was a blessing to those who participated and that it helped you take time to breathe, focus on the joys of this season, find gratitude in your lives and sing to God with gratitude in your hearts! Merry Christmas!
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