Channel of Peace

As I sit with Mary this morning, I see her open hands differently.  I often pray with my hands open, palms up, and I feel receptive - like I'm letting God place in my hands what she chooses, I'm open to receive.  That's how I saw this statue until today.  Today I see her quite large hands offered to God - not to receive, but to give and serve.  She is not holding them up to contain something.  She is showing them, offering them.

Sometimes I pray with my hands up and out - arms bent, palms facing forward.  At those times I'm connecting with the energy of the universe, letting it flow into me and back out.  I usually do this before doing laying on of hands, but sometimes during prayers for healing of others.  Sometimes it just feels right and I move into that posture.  I don't think of it as offering myself, but I see the resemblance to this Mary posture.  It's not enough to be open to receive; I need to be open to be used, to be a channel rather than a receptacle.  And when I do, there's a joy that's unlike any other.  It's real participation in the flow of creation, awareness of connection - no, more than connection, the reality of our oneness.  The energy is always there, whether or not I participate and notice.  But I have to offer myself to it to experience the reality and the joy of it.

How will you join in that energy flow today?  How and where do you offer yourself?  How and where do you notice the flow?

Lord, make us channels of your peace.