Peace in the Midst of Grief

As I wrote this book, Sitting with God: A Journey to Your True Self through Centering Prayer, my father passed away. My first centering-prayer session after his death was very powerful. I will never forget it.

The morning after he passed, I turned on my prayer app on my iPad. The opening bell chimed and I began. I immediately began to cry.

I visualized my sacred icon. I cried again. Again, I visualized the icon.

Again, I cried. I do not recall how many times I repeated this cycle. Each time I cried, I let go more deeply as I consented to God’s presence. Eventually, the tears stopped, and I was at peace.

Then I let go of the peace. I just was. I was in the spaces between my thoughts. I was with God and God was with me. True peace, even in the midst of my grief! The closing bell chimed, and I returned to my life, strengthened. I still grieved my father, but now I had let him go, knowing that he was in God’s hands. This was the most powerful centering prayer session I have ever experienced.

Centering prayer teaches us to strengthen the reflex of letting go, which is a wonderful training for life. As we stop compulsively holding on to thoughts during prayer, we build the spiritual “muscle” that allows us to let go even of the people and things in our lives that we love most. We give it all to God— thoughts, worries, loved ones, and all.

Rich Lewis is an author, speaker and coach who focuses on centering prayer as a means of inner transformation. His book, Sitting with God: A Journey to Your True Self Through Centering Prayer (288 pages) is available now.