Prayer Please!

A friend of mine was traveling down from London to join in our Women's Christmas celebrations when her car broke down just at the point where the street lighting disappears and the countryside begins.  In other words, it was dark, scary and she felt very vulnerable.

Fortunately, those modern-day knights in shining armour, the AA, were on their way but nevertheless she was pretty nervous waiting at the side of the road in the dark.

Thank God for mobile phones! Not only had she been able to call the AA she also has Whatsapp, an instant messaging application that allows her to chat to others for free (I know, modern technology eh?).  She and some of her friends have formed a 'Prayer Please' group; if one of them feels vulnerable and in need of loving support they just send out a 'Prayer Please' message and the love comes pouring in.  She sent out a cry for help as she waited by the roadside and felt held and supported as loving messages arrived to comfort her whilst she waited in the dark.

Isn't that just what we all need?  A group of supportive friends, a 'tribe' of like minded beings you can call on for support in vulnerable times?  Whenever we decide to go beyond what is familiar and meet the maximum edge of our courage it really helps to feel able to call on the support of others who 'get' you and respect your vulnerability.

Years ago, when one of my kids went on her travels with friends I was worrying myself silly about her safety. One of my teachers explained that worry was investing the power of your mind in a negative outcome so instead of fearing the worst, every time I thought of her I practiced bathing her in white light.  I imagined her surrounded by loving beings and learnt to call in my ancestors to watch over her.   It made a huge difference to my state of mind.

However, when she emailed me about some of the adventures they were having I felt like some of those white lightbulbs were starting to blow! Rather than send a fear-filled email back full of 'advice' I called a few friends first and asked them to help me keep them all bathed in light.  Just knowing that group of kind friends were helping to keep these young people surrounded in love helped me stay calm and supportive and to reply to my daughter's email with encouragement rather than sending a judgmental 'what the hell were you thinking?' missive written from fear.

That experience held great lessons for me.  I realised that investing the power of my mind in Love rather than Fear has a huge effect on my well-being, how I communicate and the quality of my relationships and that being vulnerable opens the door to Love.

My friend's roadside adventure gave us all a great Women's Christmas gift this year, a reminder of the value and power of Love.  After she'd told us the story we all wrote down the things we were willing to let go of - the good and the bad - and threw our lists into the fire.  We cleansed ourselves with sage, toasted the new year, new adventures, new horizons and, honouring our vulnerability, pledged our 'prayer please' loving support to each other for the year ahead.

May 2014 bring you great adventures and loving support.