Devotions from an article by Robert Morris in Conversations

“My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you.”  Ps 63:1  Our heart’s desires and our mind’s intentions are not separate from our body.  Our whole self, body and soul must be engaged. Our body, our God-given wonder, supports, and expresses our relationship with the Giver of all. We are told to present our bodies as living sacrifices. ( Rom. 12:1)  Our body is not just physical. It is not separate from our spiritual practice or from anything we do or say. Our heart’s intentions speak through our flesh. This is so evident in hospice volunteers who express compassion and care by their touch. The love flows from their hearts into their hands and to the person they are ministering to. The body has always been part of worship too…in dance, bowing our heads, kneeling, placing our hand on our heart, or maybe just opening our palms as a gesture of our openness to Him. Our body has a chance to speak itself to God. When our body is aligned with God and His purposes, “all its occasions dance for joy”.  God not only desire to live among us but within us completely, soul and body alike.  Let us reclaim our body in prayer. Maybe just a new way of gesturing can change the quality of our prayer and give us a deeper sense of our relationship with God. I remember when Al was preaching he had us all just place our hands on our hearts as a gesture of our love for God and His love for us. Sometimes when I go on my prayer walk I do the same and He seems so close.