Finding a Still Center

Many persons, ordained or not, live in a fairly constant state of noise, with their unresolved past and the uncertain present breaking in on them. They lack a still center and it is only for such a quiet point that we can listen attentively. -Urban T. Holmes, Spirituality for Ministry

I've been reflecting quite a bit today on the implications of this quote. I don't know about you, but I know that I live a life that is filled with "the uncertain present." Our world is moving so fast and so much is happening around us that it can be difficult to get our bearings and know who we are in the middle of it all. For me, my life is wrapped up in many things- being a seminary student, a track coach, a pastor, a loving husband and father, a friend- the list could go on. In the midst of all these activities and roles that I play, I wonder about who I really am. Am I by nature a coach? Is that mentoring role where I find my still center? This seems too peripheral a response. Am I by nature a husband and a father? While these are certainly more noble pursuits in my mind, they still come short of defining that still center.

For me, and for so many of you on this journey, that still center is found in one place only- being a loved son or daughter who lives under the grace of an Almighty God. As I reflect on that role, I realize that it demands little from me, in the sense that I cannot perform or work hard enough to belong to God. In another sense, however, I realize that this role requires everything of me. In order to truly live in the still center with God, I must give myself completely. If I am only part His, and part everyone else's, then I fail to discover that center all together.

Today, I want to live as a centered person- that in the midst of all that happens around me, I know who I am at my core. For it is from this still and uncompromising center that we are able to truly live.

May you experience more of God today as you journey on.

Nick