Dear One,
What throws you off-center?
- Schedule changes?
- Grief and loss?
- Anxiety or worry?
- The words, needs, or emotions of another?
- Unexpected upheavals in family, job, health, or home?
I’ve been tossed about this week. The residual vertigo from the TIA that came my way on Labor day was in full swing (pun intended?) and threw me off-balance each day. I added to my song title list with “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off,” and even added a TV show: “As the World Turns” (is that still playing or am I completely dating myself??).
Through it all, I uttered a 2-word prayer, and I’m wondering if maybe you could use it, too? Steady Me.
As the world spins me silly – when the rug is pulled from under me – when firm footing is nowhere to be found, steady me.
Make me “strong, firm, and steadfast,” I’d pray (1 Peter 5:10).
This vertigo is teaching me that it takes extra strength to stand and to navigate the day when one is being continually buffeted from within or without. You may not have vertigo, but I bet you’re pretty well-acquainted with the truth of this experience – with the feeling of being thrown off-center while trying your darnedest to stand. I’m with you, friend.
Our world has been spinning out of control for quite sometime now and we feel it, don’t we? The unpredictability, the loss of solid ground. The grief, needs, and fears. It’s hard to find our center. Hard to get our feet back under us. Hard to stand. We may feel like the sailors described in Psalm 107: 26-30:
“Ships were tossed by the swelling sea. We shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out; our hearts were stuck in our throats. We were spun like a top, we reeled like a drunk, we didn’t know which end was up. Then we called out to God in our desperate condition; he got us out in the nick of time. He quieted the wind down to a whisper, put a muzzle on all the big waves. And we were so relieved.”
We were so relieved. *Sigh*
Return to center. This is what comes to mind. Like “return to sender,” but not?. Return to center. This is what will steady me to stand. This is what I need right now, through all the moments of my day. And this takes focus, friend. It takes energy and intentionality. It takes noticing when I’m being blown about. And it takes the grace of God & guidance of others to bring me back home.
Return to Center: Our Little Life Words of the week.
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DEEPER DIVE
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Ponder:
- What throws you off-center?
Practice:
- Try the practice of centering prayer.
- Attempt to walk on a balance beam or a piece of masking tape stretched out on the floor while others try to throw you off balance.
- What was that like for you?
- What did it require of you?
- Try balancing exercises
Play:
- Our song of the week is: Carry Me by Josh Wilson.
- I find myself substituting the word “carry” with either “steady” or “center.”
Pray:
- “Return me to center. Steady me now.”