One of the craziest things I have done in college was not in a bar, not in the dorm, not in downtown Chicago, but in a psychology lab. There, I held a human brain. It was heavier than you might imagine. And yes, a bit slimy. But it was humbling to hold the hard drive to human beings.
In this organ I hold in my hands lies the trillions of thoughts, memories, associations, reasoning power, commands – everything! – which originate in the brain. And in our fast-paced world, it seems the brain is demanded to work longer hours while squeezing more activity into those hours. Have you ever experienced the feeling where your brain actually hurts from thinking? My answer – to most everything – is sleep. No matter what time of day, if I am overwhelmed I try to sneak in a nap. “If I can just lay down for 30 minutes…”
But lately I wonder if it’s not closing my eyes, but refocusing my eyes that will make the real difference. There is a saying in yoga: “When the gaze is still, the mind is still.” I know my gaze has been wandering all over the place lately: security, beauty, success, love life, etc. And that’s when I feel the slight nudging which soon turns into the overwhelming, “what am I doing with my life?” mini cry fest. The mind and heart can’t be still because the gaze isn’t still. Those distractions I mentioned are not bad things – they actually can be great motivators – but they are not consistent. They fluctuate. And they are not built for the everlasting. And so, we are restless until we rest in the Lord.
Fix your eyes on Christ because He is the only constant in this life and the next. Even if life is spinning as if you are a twirling ballerina, keep Him as your focus point. No matter what happens as the world turns, you start and end each revolution with a certain gaze. No other way could you keep turning without stumbling or becoming lost in dizziness.
Nelson Mandela was a man of focus. He could have succumbed to the shakiness in his world, but he had a mission and motivation. The picture below was taken from his capture site in a small South African town. The memorial is made of steel rods that look like a sad, small metal forest from a distance. But only at the exact angle and distance does the image of Mandela’s determined face appear. To fix our eyes on God, to see His face, we need to place ourselves in the right position – in prayer, service, community with others. There, we can find what we have been looking for in all the wrong places.
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Princess Prayer 