A time for calm

​Good afternoon sisters and brothers,
            I wonder how you all are doing? Emotionally, spiritually, physically. I change day to day. Yesterday I needed to be moving. Running an errand. Taking a walk. Doing some aerobics. Today is feeling much more easy. “I’m chill.” As they say. Maybe it’s because yesterday wore me out! I want to share with you a “chill” reflection that I came across this morning. And share a song that was part of my morning meditation time. (I know Shaun and Sunny can provide the music too…not trying to replace. Maybe this will give them a time to chill as well.
The reflection:
When we call out for help, we are bound more powerfully to God through our needs and weakness, our unfulfilled hopes and dreams, and our anxieties and problems than we ever could have been through our joys, successes, and strengths alone. . . .  (Brian McLaren) Take some time with this – lots of wisdom here: 
Anxieties can gray the whole sky like cloud cover or descend on our whole horizon like fog. When we rename our anxieties, in a sense we distill them into requests. What covered the whole sky can now be contained in a couple of buckets. So when we’re suffering from anxiety, we can begin by simply holding the word help before God, letting that one word bring focus to the chaos of our racing thoughts. Once we feel that our mind has dropped out of the frantic zone and into a spirit of connection with God, we can let the general word help go and in its place hold more specific words that name what we need, thereby condensing the cloud of vague anxiety into a bucket of substantial request. So we might hold the word guidance before God. Or patience. Or courage. Or resilience. Or boundaries, mercy, compassion, determination, healing, calm, freedom, wisdom, or peace. . . .
Along with our anxieties and hurts, we also bring our disappointments to God. If anxieties focus on what might happen, and hurts focus on what has happened, disappointments focus on what has not happened. Again, as the saying goes, revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing, so simply acknowledging or naming our disappointment to God is an important move. This is especially important because many of us, if we don’t bring our disappointment to God, will blame our disappointment on God, thus alienating ourselves from our best hope of comfort and strength. . . .  
Whether we’re dealing with anxieties, wounds, disappointments, or other needs or struggles, there is enormous power in simple, strong words—the words by which we name our pain and then translate it into a request to God. Help is the door into this vital practice of petition, through which we expand beyond our own capacities and resources to God’s. . . . 
Now – right click on this hyperlink… see drop down menu…click on “open hyperlink” – and (if this works) enjoy.
https://youtu.be/OCe0TvcUGIc
 
Grace and peace to all – Pastor Michael