I Am the Place
Minister's Letter for April 2024.jpg)
“I am the place, God shines through, for God and I are one not two.
I need not fear, nor fret, nor plan, for God needs me right where I am.
And if I am relaxed and free, God will do a mighty work through me.”
This tends to be one of my “go to prayers.” One my daughter actually taught me when she was three years old. This prayer, or poem, tends to center me, as I take a deep breath in, and remember God – the Life Force – is feeling and filling my heart and every cell of my being. It allows and empowers me to let go of whatever thoughts, or monkey mind chatter might be going on, and just be fully in this moment now. In this place, I can “just be aware of what is;” my heart beat, and sounds like the wind or the stillness within the moment.
I don’t know about you, but when I lay down to go to sleep at night, even though I might be very tired, I have these thoughts running through my head. You know like things I might be planning the next day! Or conversations with someone, or what might have been on TV or what to do about this or that. I realize I might be the only one that does that, allowing their thoughts to run away with them, when they should be focused on falling asleep. So, what I have learned to do, is to follow the example Jesus shared when he was having one of those crazy nightmare situations from the cross, and said, “Into your hands dear Lord, I commend my spirit, have your perfect way with me. Please handle these situations and when I awake, let me know what is mine to do.” Then I say the opening prayer, “I am the place, God shines through…” when the prayer is complete, I just listen to my heartbeat and whatever I might be aware of. A few hours later I wake up, refreshed and renewed and ready to begin a new day.
Oddly enough, I don’t even remember the things I was being worried about. All my plans and the things I need to do have just fallen into place. Whatever the challenges may have been and the things I was “trying to be stressed about,” have been somehow resolved, or at least a way through those challenges have been made clear. I didn’t need to pull out all my Marriott Managerial training and begin to plot and plan for the things I had to do.
Hum, a simple prayer, “I Am the Place” can open a space in the heart and the mind, that can lead to the process of Spiritual Discernment, which opens us up to all the Wisdom of the Universe. Wow Amazing! But the key to the prayer and to the process of Spiritual Discernment (the Spiritual Faculty of April) is learning to pause, taking a deep breath in, and affirming “I Am the place.” This engages our higher awareness! And the following words invite us to let go of whatever we might have been thinking, so that we might relax into the One Presence and One Power, which can be felt in our Solar Plexus.
I will repeat that in a shorter version, so the mortal mind can hear it and incorporate it into a new disciple of being “The Way.” Pause, take a deep breath in, affirm “I Am the Place,” then let go and relax into the One Presence which can be felt in the Solar Plexus. Got it?
Now this might take a little practice getting into the rhythm of “The All of Life,” but the more that you do, the more you will feel the power of this short prayer! And the more you will be open to feeling the connection it can make. The other side effect of making this a practice, is that will help to cut the thinker in you off. You know what I be talking about, all that monkey mind chatter that goes on and the need to be continuously thinking and talking and hearing like your TV and Cell Phone do. Yikes!! I might add that the connection “this short prayer practice” can make is to your intuitive power, the natural wisdom that lies dormant in you, calling to connect with you to share with you Its insights and Its understanding of the way the universe is moving and working in your life.
Namaste, I see Love’s Presence in You, RevDoc Patrick
