Good morning…
A “breath prayer” can be lifted any time, any where, alone aloud or silently in a crowd. Usually nine syllables or less, breath prayers can calm our anxious thoughts. Richard Foster, Christian author and theologian in the Quaker tradition, writes: “Commenting on breath prayers, Theophane the Recluse notes, ‘Thoughts continue to jostle in your head like mosquitos. To stop this jostling, you must bind the mind with one thought, or the thought of One only. An aid to this is a short prayer, which helps the mind to become simple and unified.’” (Richard Foster’s Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, 24)
What might it mean to “bind our mind?” To tie and fix our inner chatter to the security of one thought. To join and fasten our scattered mind to “the thought of One only.” To link and connect our racing thoughts to the ever-presence of our living LORD. We can not keep our mind from chattering and scattering, from racing and jostling, but when we notice our worries working overtime, we can slowly breathe a simple prayer, securing our mind to the Prince of Peace.
We may pray, “More of God. Less of me.” We might trust, “With God I have all I need.” We may ask, “Holy Spirit, help me now.” We might whisper,”Jesus, remember me.”
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6, NIV).
When anxious thoughts jostle in our head like pesky mosquitos, we simply, repeatedly breathe a short prayer and bind our minds to the wonderful, mighty Maker of everlasting peace.
…Sue…
