Meditation: Joy

My heart lifts as the golden finches rise
beside my bike and pace me for seconds at a time.
My heart soars when a baby without words
sees me and beams in recognition.

I am more than me when God
paints the sky in gold and purple. My breath
stops. My heart flies beyond the package that I
normally know as me.

A stranger smiles, a dancer hits the mark and beat,
a moment of perfect prowess, sun sparkling on
tumbling brown water framed by new green leaves
and black trunks and glowing moss rocks.

Heaven is all around us, glimpsed in the moments
of perfection - infinite moments savoured
and stored. Reminders that we live in a world half
seen, a creation barely noticed, but always there

to reassure and sustain us when we dare to
share your joy.


Suggestions for meditations
Always begin by offering your time to God: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time when I am reaching out to you" and then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for you.
Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.
These are things that bring me joy - what brings joy to you?
If you would prefer a Bible reading I suggest Luke 12, 22-32.
You can begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.
Then spend 5, or 10, or 20 minutes with the word Joy. Every time you drift off the word, gently remind yourself and come back to it ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).
You may need a countdown clock. 
At the end thank God, and return to your day.

Meditation: Namaste

I have always been fascinated with greetings, farewells and little habits of speech that we use so often we have forgotten their meaning: peace be with you, God bless, bless you, good morning, kia ora, shalom, good-on-you, fare-well, good-bye. One I encountered recently is the Hindu greeting (said with a bow and a prayer gesture), Namaste, which means ...

The light in me, sensing the light in you

bows to acknowledge its twin.

The light in me, knowing your light

reaches out to let your brightness in.

Refusing to see the rough skin of the package –

the tired string that keeps it all in,

the light that is the real me

rushes to touch your light shining within.

Suggestions for meditations
Always begin by offering your time to God: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time when I am reaching out to you" and then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for you.
Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.
I try to see the light in people. I sometimes seem to see Jesus looking back at me when I am talking to someone in distress. Think about moments you have seen the extra-ordinary in someone else.
If you would prefer a Bible reading I suggest Luke 24, 30-35.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

You can begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.
Then spend 5, or 10, or 20 minutes with the phrase Light in me or God in me. Every time you drift off the phrase, gently remind yourself, and come back to it ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).
You may need a countdown clock. 
At the end thank God, and return to your day.

Meditation: Being of Light

I am a being of light

swelling to fill the skin of my body

shaded beyond the power of senses

but humming the silent hymn of creation.

You are a being of light

invisible to me in the package you wear: 
a body of skin, supported by bones.

I see only the wrapping hiding the light inside.

In moments of beauty

I see hints of the light:

the eyes of a child, the grace of a dancer,

then my soul leaps and soars to your light.

See past the package I wear to conceal

the frightening light of my being.

Touch me again. Feel our light merge and glimpse
God come to Earth again.

Suggestions for meditations

Always begin by offering your time to God: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time when I am reaching out to you" and then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for you.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

I try to see the light in people. I sometimes seem to see God looking back at me when I am talking to someone in distress. Think about moments you have seen the extra-ordinary in someone else.

If you would prefer a Bible reading I suggest Luke 24, 30-37.

You can begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 20 minutes with the phrase Spirit am I. Every time you drift off the phrase, gently remind yourself and come back to it ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock. 

At the end thank God, and return to your day.