Massaged into Being

While on retreat, I had the privilege of getting a massage.  On the table, with my mind and muscles relaxed, I envisioned how God creates us, body and spirit.   


I imagine that when God takes the cool soil in her soft yet strong hands, she carefully, breathes into our lungs, caressing each deep inhale and exhale of release.   Focus on our respiration shuts out the world and inspires reflection.  In the palms of her hands, she shapes each curve, each bone, each muscle.  As she holds every toe between her fingers, she massages them one by one, recalling how precious yet how important they are to walking our own path.  The fingers stretched separately signify the lives we have touched, the labor of our love and lives, and how we are called to serve.  As she massages each muscle, she recognizes where our strengths lie, what kind of work and workouts we practice, the tension and stress we carry, and what has been used and what has gone unmoved.  As she touches each vertebrae, she aligns our posture with hers, preparing us to stand up for what we believe in even as we lie facedown in prayer.  Her hands glide over our face, massaging our unique vision of and to the world.   She scratches the scalp with her fingertips, activating the senses and our sensitivity to others. 

---

And in the end, she rubs her hands over our flesh, having relaxed yet reenergized our bodies for being an active participant as a child of God, massaged into being by Beauty herself.