Embodied: a letter from K.J. Ramsey
Embodied.
Only Friendship Can Hold Fear Next to Faith
Part 2, Come to the Current
A few days ago I spent the afternoon drifting down the Madison River. Between the wide berth of my paddleboard and the river’s patient, plodding pace, I had ample room to notice the beauty around me. (That’s my kind of adventure—minimal effort, maximum beauty.) Emerald trees and sagebrush dotted the taupe hills, jutted by ancient, metamorphic rock cliffs. Where sharp ledges met the riverbank, desert turned to jade in a rich array of grass studded by yellow wildflowers. The fierce landscape was teeming with life at the water’s edge, fed by a perpetual current.
Fear makes our lives feel like a fierce landscape. If I avoid it, I become a desert, painted in spiritual beige. If I baptize it as gospel-truth, I become a cliff, sharp with irritability, jagged in anticipation of harm. But if I treat fear like a friend, a companion walking the landscape of my life, I can let her guide me to where goodness grows. If I notice fear as a nudge to descend to the water’s edge, I find the fierce landscape of my life is fed by a perpetual current of grace.
And this is grace: God is the reality underneath, within, behind, and beyond all things. *|TWITTER:TWEET [$text=This is grace: God is the reality underneath, within, behind, and beyond all things. @kjramseywrites ]|*
Centering prayer is one way to sit down by the river of grace. Instead of listing off our anxieties and pleading with God to take them away, we can come to God as we are. It’s so simple it hurts:
Prayer doesn’t have to be an effortful exchange. It can be a centering of our being in the presence of the God who in Christ accepts us no matter what. *|TWITTER:TWEET [$text=Prayer doesn't have to be an effortful exchange. It can be a centering of our being in the presence of the God who in Christ accepts us no matter what. @kjramseywrites ]|*
We don’t have to wait for the absence of anxiety to feel accepted by God. We can let anxiety move us toward the place where, through habit, our bodies will learn we are already loved. When we cultivate a practice of centering prayer, we learn to recognize the current of grace constantly saturating our lives—even and especially in seasons that seem alarmingly arid. (And, truthfully, that's the kind of season I'm in.) We come with open hands and open hearts to sit with the God who already provided everything we need to dwell secure. He doesn’t need our words; he wants our presence.
Silence paired with shifting our attention from the buzzing beat of fear and stress alters the current of emotional energy in our brains and bodies. Time spent centering our selves in the presence of God centers our bodies in the peace of God. While we often won’t notice much happening within us while practicing centering prayer, God is quietly, mysteriously filling us with his deep peace. (I notice when I haven’t been practicing centering prayer regularly I’m less patient, more easily stressed, and I don’t seem to notice the small goodness scattered throughout my day.)
Only friendship can hold fear next to faith. And only friendship can hold pain next to praise. Our difficult emotions, when befriended, can be reminders to remember reality, to sink underneath the rocky surface of our lives to the stream of grace filling the desert with life. Underneath, in, and around us, God is always present. But how would we expect to know and enjoy a friend we never spend time with? Practices like centering prayer form a friendship with God, a hospitality of our hearts to his, a hospitality that begins when we choose to be hospitable to the parts of ourselves we most want to avoid. *|TWITTER:TWEET [$text=Centering prayer forms our friendship with God, a hospitality of our hearts to his, a hospitality that begins when we choose to be hospitable to the parts of ourselves we most want to avoid. @kjramseywrites ]|*
The fierce landscape of your life is fed by a perpetual, patient current of grace.
Will you come to the current of grace?
This is what Jesus asks: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)
COME: an acronym to guide
your centering prayer practice
C— choose a sacred word. (I often use the word “trust.”) This word is a symbol of your intention to spend time with God and to consent to his presence and movement in you.
O— this is an opportunity to simply be with God. When thoughts come to mind during your time of prayer, simply return to your sacred word in your mind.
M—make this a habit. The benefit of centering prayer is not felt in minutes but over weeks, months, and years.
E—enter your time of prayer as you are. If you are anxious, that’s okay. God doesn’t ask us to clean ourselves up before being with him. He says, “Come to me.”
(Use the Centering Prayer App for a simple explanation of how to begin centering prayer. And if you want to go deeper, I highly recommend reading Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault.)
This Too Shall Last:
Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers
is now available to preorder!
Guys, isn't she beautiful? I can't wait for you to hold her in your hands when she officially releases on May 12, 2020. Until then, you can preorder a copy on Amazon or Christianbook.com.
Thanks for sharing a little email space with me to find grace in the fierce landscape of our lives. I pray we both will better sense God's attracting, sustaining grace in our lives as we sit down by his stream.
In the fellowship of Jesus,
KJ
kjramsey.com