Walk With me on Our Journey: Taking care of our minds by exercising them spiritually, mentally, and with our heart homes!

Dear Family of Love

Happy September 1 and Take Care Tuesday! I don't believe that we are now into September and Fall is on its way. Time has flown and we are now heading into the homestretch of 2015. Time moves strangely when you are transitioning into new life. Every day we are making some kind of transition. Today I spent most of the day writing and creating the parish newsletter for the first time on my own. Writing this nightly blog has prepared me for this and it is a good thing to exercise one's mind. What kind of mental exercises do you do for your mind? I would suggest that we do something each day without fail. Prayer and meditation are two other ways in which we can exercise our minds, hearts, and spirits. We must continue to strive to go deeper into that mystery of the mind that more often than not trips us up, and gives us cause for anxiety. Going deeper means taking time to breathing, praying, and stimulating our brains with music, art, crossword puzzles, and the like. If you are a reader that counts too. Add one or more of the above to make your day complete. This might be a good thing to replace TV viewing and seeing horrible hate filled posts on FB and Tweets on Twitter.
We all must take care when we are inviting social media into our lives and minds. It makes our minds go fluffy and that isn't a good thing. Social media also leads us to bad relationship habits that don't lend themselves to building and exercising our minds, hearts, and spirits to be loving, kind, and just. So take care and be watchful when your mind starts going down that slippery slope where worry, anxiety, and mental teeth grinding are the order of the day and yes even during the night.

Tonight let us go deeper into the center and find ourselves resting and having our minds healed of worry, anxiety, and mental teeth grinding. Let us listen to God and his loving words telling us that we are loved and not to be afraid. Feel God's hands soothing your tired and weary brows like our parents did when we were younger. Feel God's presence relieving your mind of all stresses and encouraging yourself to let go and to let God in to help, calm, and ease your troubled and weary mind. As you find yourself in the center of God's presence, let God help you to expand your heart home and inner being so that you can use your mind to help our family members in new and exciting ways.

Remember our mindfulness exercises ? Let us use them to take care of our minds and anytime we need to: It is simply this: We start with our breathing exercises by using this format:

Inhale the Holy Spirit.
Exhale Love.

Inhale the Holy Spirit
Exhale Love

Inhale the Holy Spirit
Exhale Love

Now repeat the following 3 times;

Be Still and Know That I am God.
Be Still and Know
Be Still
Be

Now get out some kind of timer, mindfulness app, or music and set them for 5 minutes when you begin. Then close your eyes and be silent. If the music goes long don't worry that will lead you into our time of prayer and thanksgiving.
Dear God as we begin another month help us to do better in our lives and when we fail not to give up. We pray for courage and resilience to try again and again until we get it right.

God, we pray for an end to all violence and terror that makes our minds succumb to hatred, bitterness, fear, and mistrust. We pray that we may use our minds and hearts to set them on things and situations that unite and not divide.

God we pray for all our loved ones who are sitting vigil at the bedside of loved ones who are transitioning into the Thin Places. Help us to pray for all who are pre-grieving and who have entered the long journey into grief.

God we pray for our brothers and sisters who have returned to school an those who haven't begun their new educational journey. We pray for all who teach and all who learn.

God we pray for all those who work in the ministries of social work, social justice, and advocacy of any kind.

God we pray for loving minds, hearts, and spirits in which to serve the least of these.

God we pray for all who are living with a chronic illness. We pray especially for those who are ill and in the hospital remembering _____________________

God we pray for_______________________________

God accept these our prayers in the Holy Name of your Son Jesus. Amen.

Here are the prayers from last year. Please take notice, sadly there isn't anything new under the Sun.

Holy Spirit, thank you for empowering us to serve God and one another in God's kingdom.

Holy Spirit, we give thanks for those who are discerning calls to any vocation and ministry. May they discern rightly, and say "Yes" to God.

We pray this night for all children of the world who are in need of families, homes, people who love them. We pray that they may be placed in forever homes with loving families.

We pray this night for an end to all violence, terror, and abuse of any kind.

We pray for all refugees and for compassionate immigration reform.

We pray that we may become good stewards of the God's Cathedral of life.

We pray for rain and seasonable weather.

We pray that peace may prevail in this broken world of ours. May we become peacemakers to all and not be afraid to step out courageously and speak truth to power.

We pray for all those who labor and especially for our family members who labor in the fields.

We pray for all those who are hospitalized and who are living with chronic illnesses and who are suffering from brief health problems. Lord Jesus heal them and us and make us whole.

We pray for all who are dying and have died today. Bring your comfort to those who mourn and grieve losses of any kind.

We pray that we may be more loving, compassionate, merciful, and accepting to all. May we remember that all means all and not some.

God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit we add our evening prayers, thanksgivings, celebrations, and remembrances now and on on behalf of others who have requested our prayers. We lift these our prayers to you Lord Jesus, and lay them in your gentle and healing arms. Amen.

+++++++++

Good Night Dear Ones! I love you! Please take care of your bodies, minds, and spirits. Don't forget to love God, Neighbor/Family member/ Stranger / Enemy and those who hate you and don't forget to love yourself! I give thanks to God for you this day and always.

Love and Blessings!

Sara