Dear Friends,
In a Tidbits last spring, we talked about the Breath Prayer. It is a prayer format we can use anytime. It consists of two brief sections. The first section is the “breathe in” and the second section is the “breathe out”. So, for example, you could pray, breathing in, “When I am afraid,” breathing out, “I put my trust in you.”
Sheridan Voysey, a British writer, has written the following Breath Prayer, based on the fruits of the Spirit, as found in Galatians 5:22–23. The receiving and releasing follow the rhythms of our breathing.
“Lord God, fill me with your Holy Spirit
I receive your love and release my insecurity
I receive your joy and release my unhappiness
I receive your peace and release my anxiety
I receive your patience and release my impulsiveness
I receive your kindness and release my indifference
I receive your goodness and release my ungodliness
I receive your faithfulness and release my disloyalty
I receive your gentleness and release my severity
I receive your self-control and release my self-indulgence”
Give thanks with every breath you take.
In Christ,
Revs. Bob and Helen Smith
A version of this message first appeared in the Saturday, January 23, 2021, edition of Tidbits.
Image credit: “Dublin Christ Church Cathedral Passage to Synod Hall Window Fruit of the Spirit 2012 09 26.jpg”, from the Wikimedia Commons. Attributed to Andreas F. Borchert under CC-BY-SA Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.