Welcoming

“We can only learn to love by loving.”― Iris Murdock

The Welcoming Prayer by Father Thomas Keating

“Welcome, welcome, welcome.
I welcome everything that comes to me today, because I know it’s for my healing.
I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions.
I let go of my desire for power and control.
I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval, and pleasure.
I let go of my desire for survival and security.
I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person or myself.”

May I not get in my own way.
May the doors and windows all be open to what will come despite worry, planning, assumptions.
To see the blessings in detours, delays and interruptions.
To broaden my view of the world beyond my small view, old stories, expectations.
To love without measure.
To delight without delay.
To steep in joy of the ordinary.
Allowing a different way, a new path, a space where words fall short and awe enters.
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome.”

“God gives grace in so many ways. He gives us humor when it’s hard to laugh. He gives us a new perspective when life feels suffocating. And He gives us friends to help us get through.”― Emily Ley, Grace, Not Perfection: Celebrating Simplicity, Embracing Joy