A Prayerful Embrace
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It’s been said that better questions lead us naturally to better answers, and that it’s in not knowing that we open the doorway to knowing. I’m Scott Lennox and you’re listening to The Beautiful Question, a consideration of things that truly matter in a complex world.
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We can only guess how far back in human history the offering of prayers and blessings had their beginnings. Something built into us quite naturally reaches out to the Divine and then, just as naturally, reaches out to touch the lives of the people around us in uplifting ways.
Join me this week as we once again drop into stillness and allow our hearts and minds to connect with one another. Stay with me.
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Several times a year, it brings me deep joy to offer you poetic blessings and prayers in keeping with the soulful ways of my Celtic ancestors. My family’s heritage is Scottish and English and Nova Scotian with a few other strains dropped in along the way. When I researched our Scottish side, I discovered our connection to none other than “Andrew the Wizard,” who lived in the sixteenth century. While I humbly lay claim none of his brand of ancient magic, who can say for sure?
Traditionally, blessings are offerings of kindness and compassion, as well as strength and encouragement and celebration. Offerings of support and approval and acceptance, they also come in the form of requests for God’s favor or protection or as petitions for mercy or benefit or goodness to come to the ones to whom the blessing is offered.
Similarly, prayers are solemn and humble requests for help, as well as sincere expressions of gratitude. You might think of them as the reverent invocations through which we earnestly seek spiritual communion with the Divine, usually in the form of supplication, confession, thanksgiving, praise, or adoration.
In today’s case, I offer these blessings as part of the natural and loving expression of my heartmind as I continue to lean strongly and gently into what is best for each of us. Just now, as Spring folds into Summer, may you accept this offering of grace and peace and hope from my heart to your luminous heart.
If nothing else, may you feel embraced exactly as you are as you breathe these words in.
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(Featherlight by Elm Lake courtesy of Epidemic Sound)
Photo: TeamOne
When the pressures and concerns and demands of the world have grown too loud and have come too close, and you can no longer bear the sound or the weight of them, may your own kind and loving spirit rise up from deep within you, guiding you and warmly embracing you as you put down the load and step back, allowing yourself to rest and heal and to be nourished from the inside out.
And in the warmth and stillness of that embrace, may you clearly hear the calm and the softness of your own wise and comforting voice reassuring you, loving you. And as you open your heart to receive it, may you remember that you have enough, that you’ve done enough, and that you Are enough, right now.
May you remember your own expansive place in the world and that here has never been a time when you did not belong—never—not for a single moment. And may you remember how inestimably valuable you are and that because you are a Sacred being, your value can never be diminished or taken from you. It’s one of the things that is Forever in you.
May you remember that you are not alone and that there are loving souls who only want your best as they come alongside to walk with you and partner with you—people who will take nothing away from you and will force nothing on you. And may you greet them from the same balanced and joyful and loving place within yourself—the place of acceptance and wisdom and compassion and wonder—the place of true openness.
May you allow yourself to sink into the stillness and the rest you so deeply need as you come back to yourself in your own time and at your own speed—without pressure or demand or expectation. And in that self-given priceless gift, may your heart and mind and body and your timeless spirit be restored to the expansive fullness and health that are your birthright as a perpetual child of the Sacred.
And when, at last, you find yourself restored, revitalized, and rejuvenated, as surely you will, may the steps you take from that remarkable place be in keeping with your soul’s true vision. May they take you where you need and want to be. May you find your steps to be joyful and fulfilling, even when they are hard ones.
And at the end of it all when you look back across of the sum of your life, may you smile and whisper, “Yes!” knowing that you have done your best, however halting or imperfect your steps have been. And in that beautiful hour, with the eyes of your heart wide open, may you see the Divine arc that was guiding and supporting you and keeping you safe, even before you set foot in this world.
May you know that you are eternally valuable and endlessly blessed.
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This week’s three Beautiful Questions will help you take a look back as well as looking within you and around you. Take your time as you consider them.
Question One: In what ways has your life been blessed that you could not possibly have orchestrated on your own?
Question Two: What have you done to honor the blessings you have received?
Question Three: In what ways might you quietly and lovingly bless those around you?
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I thank you for sitting with this week’s questions, and I thank you even more for being a blessing by being exactly the person you are. I invite you to write and tell me what your considerations have revealed to you.
As I say each week,
My Light with Your Light!
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Thank you for joining me in these podcasts as we keep doing the things we can to respond to life in increasingly effective ways. As always, I’m open to your comments and feedback.
You can be further inspired by visiting my friends at Kosmos Journal. That’s K O S M O S Journal. Their mission is to inform, inspire, and engage global transformation in harmony with all life. You can easily find them online at Kosmos Journal dot O R G.
And at thebeautifulquestion.com, you can read the illustrated transcript of each podcast as you listen. You’ll also find an archive of all previous podcasts, including episodes three and four, guided relaxation audios that can help you practice letting go on a daily basis.
If you find these podcasts useful, don’t hesitate to share them or tell others about them. That’s a great way of helping me get a voice of calm and collaboration and balance and encouragement out into the world.
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I’m Scott Lennox, and this has been The Beautiful Question.
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The Beautiful Question is a One Light production, written, produced, and engineered by Scott Lennox at HeartRock Studios in Fort Worth, Texas, as a way of paying forward to life, being fully present, becoming better engaged with things that truly matter in a complex world, and committing to a healthier future for all of us.