A Welcoming Prayer

Greetings, Friends!

I want to share a prayer with you that I received from a wonderful friend of mine.  She delivered it to me when I most needed it.  When I was surrounded by my own resistance to what is. It’s called The Welcoming Prayer, written by Fr. Thomas Keating and embraced by the Centering Prayer community. I have made a few changes to it, so as to make it more relevant to my particular beliefs.  Here it is….

“Welcome, welcome, welcome.                                                                                                                                            I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment because I know it is a part of my life’s journey.                          I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations and conditions.                                                              I let go of my desire for security.                                                                                                                                  I let go of my desire for approval.                                                                                                                                I let go of my desire for control.                                                                                                                                  I let go of my desire to change this situation, condition, person, or myself.                                                                    I open to the Love and Presence of the Divine,                                                                                                            And the healing action and Grace within.                                                                                                                      I am where I need to be.                                                                                                                                              Everything within me and around me includes and hides the Sacred.”

It is recommended to recite this prayer slowly – line by line – and to take a long, mindful breath in between each line.

I recite this prayer daily. Sometimes more than once –  especially when life is challenging and I find the energy of resistance grabbing ahold of me. And I have found that often a particular line jumps out at me and grabs my attention,

This week it has been  “I let go of my desire to change this situation, condition, person, or myself.” And most particularly the part about letting go of changing myself.

I have been someone who has been “working on myself” for decades. For sure, it has bought me a lot of growth, but I am realizing that I don’t want to change myself anymore. Because sometimes, change morphs into not being ok with who I am.  And it can also be a lack of trust in the Mystery.

I forget that change will always happen – and I don’t have to be the one to make it happen.  As a matter of fact, change is inevitable because of Impermanence.  Impermanence is the way of the world.  Everything is bound to change.  Nothing stays the same.  Geologists tell me that even these amazing Rocky Mountains  are changing all the time.

In my walks in the mountains, I have seen many a gnarled old tree that I thought was beautiful.  I know that tree did not have a problem with who it was – and had no wish to change itself. Gnarled body, gnarled mind, gnarled heart.  No problem. It’s all just a matter of being human.  Of being who we are.

A friend of mine wrote a children’s song a while back called “Just The Way You Are:”. The words are..

“Just the way you are is ok with me.  Just the way you are is how you were meant to be.  I love you just the way you are, don’t you change a thing for me. I love you just the way you are – it’s how you were meant to be.”

Learning to be ok with ourselves just the way we are is a Blessing. It honors that each of us is the Light Taken Form.  We have our challenges, for sure.  Yet when we come home to ourselves with understanding and love for what we’ve been through – change will indeed occur.  Because love changes things. Just as the Welcoming Prayer says,,,”I open to the love and Presence of the Divine… and the healing action and Grace within.”

It is the belief in and acknowledgement of Grace – and that it lives inside of us – that can create the change.  And that change is a more solid and true change than all my attempts to change myself – which can be code for “fixing” me.

So… I have decided I would like to replace my old habit energy of “changing myself” with “coming home to myself”. Simply being aware of and present to myself with kindness and love.

I invite you to join me in coming home to yourself. And loving you just the way you are.

And…I have included a guided meditation for you – to assist you in the journey.  I recommend you sit back, close your eyes and listen to it with earbuds. Really take it in.

Blessings of the day to you.