Become a non-anxious presence…
Have you ever felt hijacked by your emotions? Have you ever been going throughout your day when a careless comment, a sudden fear or event beyond your control held you hostage? How do we keep these anxieties from throwing us into a tail spin? How do we become more of a non-anxious presence? If you've ever wondered that, the Welcoming Prayer can help.
Developed by Mary Mrozowski, the goal of this prayer is to acknowledge the thoughts and feelings that are stirring inside of us and welcome them into the presence of the Holy Spirit who dwells within. As we do this, emotions that held us hostage now lose their potency, strong feelings that clouded our judgment or defined reality are now viewed with a greater degree of objectivity, and we experience a greater sense of peace.
There is nothing magical about this prayer, nor is it a formula. The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is simply to deepen one’s relationship with God by consenting to God’s healing presence and action in the ordinary activities of daily life.
When you have an overly emotional experience in daily life, take a moment to be still and follow these steps.
Pause: feel and sink into the feelings, emotions, thoughts, sensations, and commentaries in your body.
Welcome: Welcome God in the feelings, emotions, thoughts, and sensations in your body by saying, “Welcome.”
Release: Let go by saying, “I let go of the desire for security, love, and control, and embrace this moment as it is.
Welcome the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As you “let go” of your desire for security, love, and control you now replace it with the presence of the Father, Son, and Spirit for we have all we need in Him.
Why is this prayer so helpful?
For many of us, we either don’t know what we are feeling, try to avoid what we are feeling, or allow what we are feeling to define reality. We don’t discount our emotions, nor do we let them dictate reality, but they do say something significant about what’s stirring inside of us. We would be wise to pay attention to them and to try to understand what’s underneath them.
Generally speaking, everything we struggle with will come back to one of three things:
My need for Security and Survival
My need for Love and Esteem
My need for Power and Control
Interestingly enough, these happen to also be the three areas Jesus was tempted by Satan during his 40 days in the desert:
Turn these stones into bread (security); Throw yourself from the temple for everyone to see (love); Worship me and I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the earth (power and control).
In the same way, when something charges us emotionally, it’s because one of those three areas has been activated. By acknowledging these movements internally and then releasing our need to find security, love and control in anything outside of God, we are then freed from its power over us.
Further Reflection:
For larger emotional events during your day, simply drop into the welcoming prayer within your mind: Focus (what am I feeling?), Welcome (God’s presence), Let go (security/love/control), Welcome (Father/Son/HS). This doesn’t need to be a lengthy process but can take only a few seconds, even.
As you regain your composure, you can approach the situation you are facing with a greater degree of clarity and roundedness.
Later that evening you may consider spending more time around why that event was so significant for you:
What was it about this experience that stirred such a strong emotional response?
How might God be inviting me to do some deeper work around these areas of my life?
What would it look like to invite God into those areas or situations?
