A Dancing Sanctuary in My Mind

Each day we awake to life; it’s both old and new.

“Now I lay me down to sleep I pray The Lord my soul to keep, God bless: Mommy, daddy, my siblings, …etc.”

I used to think if I made it through the night, it was because I said my prayers. I celebrated the next day, because it was gifted to me, as a result of my prayers.

As time went on, significant people began to be added to my prayer list. Morning could come before I finished praying for everyone. Ha! I suppose then I wouldn’t have to worry about making it through the night.

Times have changed, and so have my prayer habits. I no longer make specific prayer request – I have since decided it is arrogant. What if I pray for someone’s health to get better, when a spout of sickness is just what the god-doctor ordered?

I have encountered challenging situations in my life, wishing they would go away, or hadn’t happened, only to discover a silver lining, at a later time. If some prayer warrior had prayed for one of those challenging situations to go away, before I could benefit from the silver lining, the prayer would not have been in my favor.

There have also been times in my prayer career when part of the ritual is being on my knees, intending for every aspect of this sacrament to be about reverence. The only main aspect of my routine today, is to make sure I don’t get out of bed without praying.

Today’s prayer session took on an interesting twist, as if the prayer realm in my mind were a space and entity unto its own, and I merely an observant.

I actually did not pray before I got out of bed, didn’t even think about the missed prayer session until I arrived at my school campus to do some research. I sat at the computer, ready to get ‘er done, when it occurs to me, I hadn’t prayed. As I waited for a document to download, I decided it was a good time to get in my praying.

I closed my yes, and in the fashion I’m used to, I being going down the list of the significant people in my life. Rather than praying for specifics, I hold them in my mind’s eye, as I embrace each person’s essence and spirit in my heart. The first person began to move, shake, as if boogying to a good tune.

I hold that person for a while, as they did their thing; that person must have needed to be held in dancing mode. Fine, I guess. I move on to the next person, they started dancing too. What universal song could’ve been playing, that everyone in my prayers could hear, but not me?

I continue going down my list, and not only did every single person dance and groove in their own unique rhythm, they each made eye contact with me, in a soulful, connected way. Tears rolled down, as I realized, the prayer session was about all the people I normally pray for, praying for me. I was shifted, and felt blessed. It was a prayer dance just for me.
To that, I say, thank you for the morning prayers, and AMEN!