Flower Communion Compassion Meditation
written by Helen Rose
Delivered at Westside Unitarian Universalist Church
Sunday, April 21, 2019

This meditation is an original piece by Helen Rose. Feel free to use for worship with proper credit given to the author. Email Helen with any questions.

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As we embrace Spring and all its promise, how can we support one another on our journeys?

The answer is found across time and tradition: We must wish for others what we wish for ourselves.

Consider for a moment what you need upon your journey.

Do you need a companion? A community? A moment to pause?

Do you need healing – emotional, physical, or spiritual?

Do you need a good night’s sleep, a good cry, or a creative solution to a problem?

Take a moment to specifically identify your needs and set the intention that your needs will be met.

Now, if you are willing and able, close your eyes. Place one hand over your heart, and one hand out in front of you, with your palm facing the flowers at the center of the room.

Take a moment to hold in your heart what you need, and your intention for those needs to be met.

Now, imagine your needs and intentions flowing from your heart, out through your hand and being received by the flowers.

Picture the promise these flowers represent, holding your intention in their petals, as well as the intentions of all your fellow travelers.

Think of your fellow travelers – the collection of souls and bodies in this room and beyond, the ones you hold dear and the ones you will never know.

How might their needs be the same as yours? How might they be different?

Set the intention that your fellow travelers will have their needs met, and envision your fellow travelers likewise holding you in compassion as you continue on your journey.

Envision them living with the intention and expectation that your needs be met in addition to their own, because compassion, like a flame, is never diminished when shared.

Consider that every single moment of this journey is as promising as the first day of spring, and the abundance of love and peace in this moment is eternal and unconditional.

When you feel so moved, I invite you to come and take a flower that speaks to you. As you carry it with you, carry the compassionate intentions of your fellow travelers and the beloved community as well.

Blessed Be.