I preached my All Saints sermon for the first time about 8:45am on Sunday. By 10:30am, my lower back hurt, and it hasn’t stopped yet.

When we start to let loose the truth of our condition, our bodies kick into healing mode. Pain is communication, and my low back is communicating to me — through my understanding of chakras (maybe this is a bridge too far for you, that’s totally reasonable, just discard it) — that my sense of stability and security has been shaken.

Our low back/pelvic bone (the whole spine, really) is where our stability (anatomically, and I’d argue, energetically) resides.

What I’ve learned in yoga is this: our bodies store pain, and our bodies communicate in pain (well, hopefully it doesn’t always take pain to listen, but, I’m a stubborn sort). If your throat or jaw hurts — maybe there’s something you need to say; if your shoulders hurt — maybe you’re trying to carry too much; if your back hurts — maybe your center/roots/stability/security feels threatened.

The way to heal is to acknowledge that pain. Let the pain guide you to treatment, movement, change, whatever can relieve you.

Maybe a momma with a super sick baby in October is feeling off-kilter, unstable — that’s really not so wild an idea, is it?

So here’s my message: God made our bodies to communicate powerfully with us, I’d even say that God communicates with us through our bodies (“You’re carrying too much.” “You need *rest*, my child.”).

When God speaks; when your body speaks, may you listen.