Week 1: Summer Rhythms

Palms Down, Palms Up

*Each Friday this summer I’ll be resharing a series of reflections I wrote last summer for paid subscribers. This is the first of that series and was originally posted on June 8, 2024.

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We humans are integrated beings: mind, body, and soul. My guess is that, like me, your tendency is to compartmentalize these aspects of your humanness, but we do so to our detriment.

Relegating God to just the soul stuff or simply doing the “right” thing diminishes our relationship and connection. Rather God wants to meet you and care for you in all of it.

When he identifies the greatest commandment (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”), Jesus is inviting us into an all-in kind of love, a devotion that requires all of our integrated selves: mind, body, and soul. And when we’re actually loving God with our full selves as intended, we take on his likeness of Love, which affects our human relationships with others and helps us become the kind of people who live out the flip side of that commandment (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”)

So how do we learn to love God fully in this mind-heart-soul kind of way?

I’ve found myself approaching life with God through a posture framework — mind postures, body postures, soul postures — with embodied prayer and Scripture practices. The practices themselves aren’t special; they simply provide conducive space for the Holy Spirit to meet me and do his work in me.

So I’ll kick off these Summer Rhythms posts by sharing some of these posture practices that have been impactful for me as I’m learning to foster a mind-heart-soul love for God. Each practice will begin with a brief description followed by written instruction, and an invitation to incorporate it throughout your week.

Week 1: Palms Down, Palms Up Prayer

This prayer practice has been a staple for me and in my work with others for quite a while now. The simple physical gestures in this prayer keep me mindfully connected to my soul’s intention: surrender and reception.

Seek out a quiet spot.

Seated in a comfortable position, place your palms facing down on your lap. As you sit in this position, surrender to God anything you don’t want to carry anymore: bitterness, hurt, anger, sin, etc. Name each burden. Imagine you’re releasing them from your grasp at the feet of Jesus.

When you’re ready, turn your palms over so that they’re facing up. Ask God to fill you with his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. Receive his good gifts and rest in his presence.

Amen.

The invitation is to pray using the Palms Down, Palms Up practice this week. Incorporate it into your rhythm with God and see how he meets you there.

Our journey with God is meant to be walked in faithful community with others. Let us know how it goes and what you’re learning about God and about yourself in the comments below.

May we grow together in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Until next time,

Kerry

Note: Don’t sweat it if you find some week’s practice not particularly useful. We are cultivating a relationship with an active and dynamic God just as we are active and dynamic seekers. Depending on the season we’re in, we may find some to be more useful than others. I simply offer them as tools for your spiritual tool belt. You never know when one of the tools will come in handy later on down the road. And most importantly, there is no failing; there is simply practicing.