Each participant chooses a strong, smooth stone of three inches or more in diameter. They hold the stones as the facilitator leads the meditation.
Take time to quiet your inner and outer self.
Breathe: Notice if your body is at ease, if there is any discomfort, pain, tension, or tiredness. Bring your kindness to this part of your body. Let it know that you care. Breathe peace into this part of your physical self.
Breathe: Be aware of your mind, of anything that is taking peace away from you. Recognize it. Then, ease any disturbance out of your mind. Bring your attention here. Be present to this time and place. Breathe peace into your mind.
Breathe: Be attuned to your spirit. Notice if any emotion you have at this time distresses or preoccupies you. Acknowledge it. Then breathe it out. Let it float away. Be at ease. Breathe peace into your spirit.
Focus on the stone you are holding. This stone is symbolic of your journey with suffering. This stone once had rough, bumpy, sharp edges. Perhaps it was encrusted with clay or other pieces of earth. At some moment in time, it was broken off from a larger layer of stone. During its process of coming to be in your hand, it was tumbled and tossed, bounced around, rolled back and forth, hit by other rocks, and changed by forceful movements on the planet.
Your stone has known all sorts of weather, storms of many types. It has been swept by wild winds, experienced hot sun, and harsh cold. The edges gradually became smooth and easy to touch through the stone's many experiences.
You are like the stone you hold. You have known both calm weather and abrasive storms of life. You have experienced pain and hurt that broke open your heart. Events and situations you did not want to experience have worn your rough edges smoother.
Each time suffering of some form has come your way – whether it be inner struggle with self-acceptance, bleakness in your spiritual life, physical illness, loss of a dream, conflicts in relationships, or sufferings that only you know – each of these has shaped you into the person you now are.
You have gained empathy for others. You share a kinship with everyone who has experienced some kind of hurt. Each painful situation has polished your goodness, buffed your spirit until you shine with ever greater loving-kindness. Your spirit has been refined into a compassionate presence.
Press on the stone. Feel its solidity and strength. It does not bend or break. Like the stone, you have an inner resiliency. You have the power to endure. You can stand firmly in the storms of life.
Wrap your hands tightly around the stone, as if protecting it. Feel how warm the stone becomes as it is sheltered in your hands. In the same way, the warmth of divine love shelters, protects, and comforts you with compassion.
Be still. Experience yourself being encompassed with the Holy One's love.
— Joyce Rupp in Prayers of Boundless Compassion