Keep my eyes focused on Jesus.
That's the heart of it.
Keep God as my drishti.
I will explain.
Drishti is a yoga term for the point you focus on, or gaze on. The point you direct your eyes to when you are in a pose. Most important to me in the balancing poses, to find a drishti that isn't too low to the floor so I fall forward, or too much to the left so I lean left, too far to the right and I lean right. Too high up, well, that doesn't seem to be a problem as I haven't started to levitate from a pose, yet.
Choose God as my focal point all day long.
Put God in the center of my everything.
Live in His presence.
Refer to Him, look to Him, think about Him.
Pursue Him.
Be used by Him.
Realize that my relationship with God is the single most important thing in every minute of my life.
How in the world do I do THAT? Just like those abs in yoga, if I take my focus off for even just a little bit, my gaze goes elsewhere and I loose it. I veer off the path He has set out for me. I need to ask God to help me keep focused on Him. I need to CHOOSE to do this. All Day Long.
How can you keep your focus on something that is invisible? That's why you have to be still. Remember from Psalm 46, Be Still. Rushing around, busy as a bumblebee and processing the one thousand or so sensory bits coming at us each day. Well let's face it. You will not be able to see the invisible. You can barely see the visible world zooming by you.
Be Still, wait on the Lord, ask for His help, seek first His kingdom, acknowledge His Glory. Like the shepherd of Psalm 23, He will restore your soul, provide your every need, guide you, be with you. He will even anoint your head with oil. More so, He will do this FOREVER.
Get that, HE will do this. FOREVER.
That's the IDEA in capital letters. But what is the action plan, oh you ask, those of you who have sat through strategic planning weekends? For me, at this point in my life, here it is. It will change through the years, I know. But for me now:
- Add some items to my daily life so that my gaze rests on reminders of God throughout the day. I will post Bible verses around my home, place a cross on the wall next to the garage door, wear my pink pearl bracelet always always always to remind me to be thankful.
- Bells of mindfulness. I will try to think of God every time I walk through a door. A door is transition, change from one room to another, an end and a beginning. I will try this. If it doesn't work, I will try another Bell of Mindfulness.
- Take time to talk with God especially when I wake up and when I lay down.
- Put aside time during the day to read the Bible (printing out Psalms and leaving them around the house works) and to study the Bible with others. Be excited about what I read, just as I am Franzen's latest novel or the new new movie that's just out.
- Go to church and stay active at church. Be an enthusiastic Christian at church. Do you get more out of a sport by watching it being played, or by being on that very team that is playing? Hm, well then, don't just show up at church on Sundays, become a part of the church. Join a small group bible study, volunteer at church.
- Looking into retreats. In a lifelong journey, I need to have some variety and a shot of adrenaline to keep it alive. I want to allow myself time and atmosphere to actively go inside my soul once in awhile, so I don't need to get cancer again. Ever. Retreats, or at least travel. Get out of the normal routine once in awhile.
- Continue using guided meditation tapes by Colleen Arnold, Bernie Siegel, Joyce Rupp, etc.
- Search out friends who feed my soul. Appreciate and grow the friendships that already do. Make sure I take time each day to be with friends, and family. Remember, no one's dying breath has even been, Oh I wish I had spent more time at the office or Oh I wish I had vacuumed the floor more often.
- Keep love and light and forgiveness and thankfulness as not only words but as actions in my life.
- Be gentle on myself. Don't put myself first, or last.
- Live intentionally.
- Evaluate how am I doing, once a year on the anniversary of the end of my past nine months.
- Choose Love.
Thank you dear friends for your prayers and kindnesses,
for your showers of love
and for your hands that lifted me up.
Thank you for walking down the path with me.
I could not have done this alone.
You and I, we are divine and we are loved.
With an everlasting love.
How cool is that?
