Finding Your Center

I find myself constantly pulled by the busy-ness of the season and wondering whether I am managing well enough to keep the Christ child at the center of my focus. It doesn’t seem like it should be something I have to work at, but I do.

I remember experimenting as a kid with something I had seen on tv that would help you not get dizzy if you were to spin around and around, something about finding a spot on the wall and focusing on that. I don’t know about you, but Christmas to-do-lists and preparations can make me feel pretty dizzy! And it’s not that I necessarily want to stop these preparations, most are special and full of tradition, but I do want help in keeping Christ the center of my focus.

I called my sister-in-law, who has danced ballet her whole life and asked her how this spotting is done. She told me that ballet dancers use spotting to help them from getting dizzy when they spin. They pick out a spot on the wall, at eye level, and while their bodies are spinning, keeping their eyes returning to that spot gives them their center and keeps them from spinning out of control.

The best part? She said that spotting is something that develops with practice and for an experienced dancer, that spot on the wall is something they no longer need because it becomes a spot they see inside their own head. Their brain has formed muscle memory and they can go to that inner spot for centering whenever they need to.

I wish I had this clear concept of muscle memory when I was a young mother. I remember very much the pull of trying to teach my children what Christmas was really all about and always feeling like I could have done better. What better gift could we give our kids than helping them to develop this muscle memory?

Each Christmas is another opportunity to practice forming that Christ-centered muscle memory within so that we may become more experienced and not require the outer trappings of lights, presents, traditions and whatever else…to see our true center in God’s amazing gift of the Christ child.

Almighty and eternal God, so draw my heart to You, so guide my mind, so fill my imagination, so control my will that I may be wholly Yours, utterly dedicated unto You; and then use me, I pray, as You will, and always to Your glory and the welfare of Your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
~From “Patches of Godlight” by Jan Karon