What is at your center?
I am reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s book Gift from the Sea and it is fascinating.
In it she likens our lives to a wheel, with spokes radiating from a central hub. These spokes represent all our responsibilities – spouse, children, extended family, community, job, etc.
There are tensions that press down on these spokes as we meet the needs and demands of all these different areas of our lives. And the question is then, as she puts it “How to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center, how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in the periphery and tend to crack the hub of the wheel?” Good question.
If we are the center of our individual worlds, what is in the center of us?
Now I haven’t read far enough in the book to know what her answer is but I did read the answer today.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10
In it she likens our lives to a wheel, with spokes radiating from a central hub. These spokes represent all our responsibilities – spouse, children, extended family, community, job, etc.
There are tensions that press down on these spokes as we meet the needs and demands of all these different areas of our lives. And the question is then, as she puts it “How to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center, how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in the periphery and tend to crack the hub of the wheel?” Good question.
If we are the center of our individual worlds, what is in the center of us?
Now I haven’t read far enough in the book to know what her answer is but I did read the answer today.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10
Why do you think so many forms of meditation and spirituality are popular now? Are we realizing as a culture, that being still is a necessary part of mental health?
But being still is not something easily accomplished – first of all there is rarely the space to be still and secondly, even if we get the space we usually lack the ability to stop our racing minds and just be still.
But is it just all about the stillness?
While sitting cross-legged saying “ohm” could be quite calming for a few moments but what about what the quiet time is over?
“Be still and know that I am God.”
What does that mean, to you?
That phrase, “I am God.”
I am more and more convinced that how you view God is fundamental to how you live your life.
Is God powerful enough to handle the problems that come your way?
Is He bigger than anything else? Does He have the authority to impact how you live?
Psalms 46:1,2 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore (because he is God and because he is our refuge and the source of our strength) we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”
But being still is not something easily accomplished – first of all there is rarely the space to be still and secondly, even if we get the space we usually lack the ability to stop our racing minds and just be still.
But is it just all about the stillness?
While sitting cross-legged saying “ohm” could be quite calming for a few moments but what about what the quiet time is over?
“Be still and know that I am God.”
What does that mean, to you?
That phrase, “I am God.”
I am more and more convinced that how you view God is fundamental to how you live your life.
Is God powerful enough to handle the problems that come your way?
Is He bigger than anything else? Does He have the authority to impact how you live?
Psalms 46:1,2 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore (because he is God and because he is our refuge and the source of our strength) we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”
Now that’s some kind of trust!
I don’t know about you but it would severely rattle my sense of security if the Rocky Mountains suddenly crumbled into the Pacific…
But that happens to us doesn’t it? Something we’ve counted on as stable suddenly disintegrates; or our routine abruptly falls to pieces, and then what are we left with?
An “ohm” will not help you here.
Here it is that you must know that He is God and cling to the promise that follows,
But that happens to us doesn’t it? Something we’ve counted on as stable suddenly disintegrates; or our routine abruptly falls to pieces, and then what are we left with?
An “ohm” will not help you here.
Here it is that you must know that He is God and cling to the promise that follows,
“The Lord Almighty is with us.” (Psalms 46:11)
We may be at the center of our worlds but He is in that center with us.
He has promised that He will never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)so therefore
we are never without His presence or His power.
Is that enough? Only you can answer that...
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!
We may be at the center of our worlds but He is in that center with us.
He has promised that He will never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)so therefore
we are never without His presence or His power.
Is that enough? Only you can answer that...
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the Lord always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.” Isaiah 26:3
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