Center Down*
Welcome! I need reminders to center down so God can well up on my best of days – in the midst of uncertainty and loss of routine, I need moments of focus more than ever. And I got to thinking that if I need it, maybe you do too. Will you join me?
Occassionally I’ll share an audio of approximately five minutes that you can listen to any time during your day. Each recording will follow a routine of inviting the moment, a reading to reflect upon, and a closing. Readings will come from various sources, including the Hebrew and New Testament Scriptures, prayers and poems. I’ll share the words of faith traditions other than my own yet with whom our roots are deep and connected. Howard Thurman expresses best the unity of our world’s faith traditions, What is true in any religion is in the religion because it is true; it is not true because it is in the religion.
Let us seek the well of truth available to us together…
*How Good to Center Down!
by Howard Thurman
How good it is to center down!
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!
The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;
Our spirits resound with clashings, with noise silences,
While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull.
With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes, a fresh sense of order in our living;
A direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion and bring meaning in our chaos.
We look at ourselves in this waiting moment – the kinds of people we are.
The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives? – what are the motives that order our days?
What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go?
Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?
For what end do we make sacrifices? Where is my treasure and what do I love most in my life?
What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?
Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.
As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind –
A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.
It move directly to the core of our being. Our questions are answered,
Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily roung.
With the peace of the Eternal in our step.
How good it is to center down!