The Gift

A friend in my meditation class last night shared this piece of wisdom from his yoga instructor. The instructor noted that too often people lean forward and lead with their head when walking sitting or positioning themselves, instead of standing up straight and letting their chest lead. This posture apparently causes an imbalance in the spine, and then, pain.

My friend concluded that quite often, the same thing happens in life, and the effects are felt not just in the spine. So for today, the yoga instructor’s directive on what should take the lead in life:

“Lower the head. Raise the heart.”

The Gift

“It is possible that God is the way Annie Payne used to lean her old head against my shoulder, trusting me as I held her on the bedpan; . . . It is possible that God is my neighbor with her pan of brownies standing on my doorstep. It is entirely possible, that is, that the God I serve and worship with all my body, all my mind, all my soul, and all my spirit is love (1 John 4:8). It’s enough. It’s all the God I need.”

Kate Braestrup’s reflections on God in her book, Here If You Need Me. After losing her Maine State Trooper husband in a car accident, she went on to become a chaplain for search-and-rescue missions in the Maine woods. She is one of the first chaplains ever appointed to the Maine Warden Service.