Join me in the spirit of prayer and meditation. Find a comfortable place for your body. Breathe as deeply as you are able.

Hold in your mind the image of all things, all beings, coming from the same tree, roots stretched in limitless tangles of connection and sustenance. Interconnected and interlaced in a web of living and dying that is so beautifully designed, and most times, invisible.

Join me in breathing.

Breathe in for our lives touched by ancestors known and unknown.
Breathe out for living lives that will touch our descendants.

Breathe in for folks held in loving arms as they were raised up.
Breathe out for folks who had to make their own way too early in their lives.

Breathe in for beloveds who we hold close in our hearts every day.
Breathe out for beloveds we sometimes have trouble reaching out to.

Breathe in for loving,
Breathe out for losing.

Breathe in for parents doing the best that they can,
Breathe out for the impossible decisions they’ve had to make.

Breathe in for those living with addictions, mental illness and grief.
Breathe out for those living with and caring for folks living with addiction, mental illness and grief.

Breathe in for caregivers of all kinds who give of themselves to make other people’s lives better, more whole.
Breathe out to honor this holy work.

Let’s take a moment of silence together.