Week of Oct. 15, 2017
The Scripture ~ “Remember [God] how you brought a young vine out of Egypt, cleared out the brambles and the briers and planted your very own vineyard? You prepared the good earth, you planted her roots deep, the vineyard filled the land.” Psalm 80:8-9 The Message
The Spiritual Focus ~ “When will you find God? When all your desires for other things are
finished. When you realize that the only thing worth having is God. When every thought, every feeling is drenched with the Love of God.” P. Yogananda
Breath Prayer ~ Rooted in Love
The Devotion ~
Mentor and friend of Yogadevotion Pastor John Hogenson once said, “Lutheran is how you grew up Lutheran.” His meaning was that your religious roots were grounded not only in a specific tradition but in a specific church’s way of teaching that tradition. In other words, many of us have religious roots in the religious tradition we were born into. Born Catholic you have your roots in Catholicism. Methodist, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist…all have folks with hereditary roots in the faith that birthed them. Some of us have no religious tradition to remember but still sense there is something greater than self and are on a spiritual quest to put down roots. Being religiously rooted and being spiritually rooted share common ground when the roots are planted in the soul, planted in a common divine purpose, love.
St. Augustine is quoted as saying, “Love is the beauty of the soul.” Being spiritually rooted means that you have examined the landscape of your soul through the lens of what you have been taught. You have examined your inherited faith and are able to ground yourself in a place, where what you have been taught is lived out in love in the world around you. Love of God, love of neighbor as self is the beautiful soul that is spiritually rooted. This is where we ground ourselves and are drenched with the love of God.
Grounding ourselves is foundational in our faith and yoga practice. Rooting down physically, emotionally and spiritually, developing deep roots, stabilizes us and opens us to become aware of the beauty of the soul and of God’s healing presence.
