Before we begin

Observe the instructions below as you enter through the door

  • ·Laptop closed, every device off
  • ·Phones away, screens dark, headphones out
  • ·Let the room be quiet for the next few minutes

The work will still be here. Let us start somewhere else.

The practice

Submission

hands on your lap · feet on the floor · a slow breath

Not resignation. Asking to be carried through a thing rather than spared it.

  • ·Name one hard thing in front of you this month
  • ·Notice the wish for it simply to go away
  • ·Ask instead for strength inside it
  • ·Sarah prayed this way for thirteen years

Spiritual Disciplines Handbook · Adele Ahlberg Calhoun · Part 3 · Relinquish the False Self

breathe

“O God, give me strength.”

Amma Sarah · Sarah 1

She fought the same struggle for thirteen years and never once prayed for it to stop.

Amen.

Open your laptops. Let’s begin.