Much needed words to “concentrate” on during this mundane Monday. The Key to Staying Sane in Spinning World : …and why in the world does just getting out of bed give you a bad case of motion sickness? I can be spun sick dizzy before 9 in the morning. So there’s this mundane going out to the freezer and getting a can of concentrated orange juice and squeezing it out into this pitcher and then there’s the stirring, and I stand over the mouth of the pitcher and watch it spinning too, this ridiculous concentrating on the concentrate. There’s this stirring the orange juice slow and there’s that: Concentrate means to make stronger, be more focused; concentrate means to not be diluted by distractions, to be in one’s purest form. And then, over the morning’s Bible reading, I drink back the orange juice and read it over again and again, like a circling of it’s own: “Give thanks to the Lord, His Love Endures Forever.” The earth spins, so Scripture keeps spinning around the central point. Because the mind is chronically centrifugal. In a whirling world, we keep flying off in tangents. Our thinking needs to intentionally con-centrate — to literally circle again and around again around the central thing. So none of this ever gets old: the giving thanks, giving thanks every day and again, for a thousand things, the memorizing of Scripture, the verses of Romans on repeat, the sitting down to eat the dead food three times a day and then never pushing back from the table until having eaten the Living Food. The old paths never get old — they are what renew. No one lives Gospel-centered lives, until literally, intentionally con-centrating: circling the mind around and around Christ again. In the vortex of life, you keep your head above water by literally con-centrating your thinking: Centering and circling your thoughts again around the things that matter. We are only as Christ-centered as our minds are con-centric: thoughts circling around Christ — concentrating. The mudroom smells like wet and raunchy dog — a home scent gone mad — and the fridge needs someone with a face mask in a wetsuit to pressure wash it down. And there were tears over a math lesson already and no one can find one dire pencil sharpener. Give Thanks to The Lord, His Love Endures — without expiry date, without end — Forever. All fear is the lie that God’s love ends. Untie that lie. Untie that lie that strangles you by circling your life with Truth: Give Thanks to The Lord, His Love Endures – endures cancer, teenagers, laundry, infertility, sleepless nights, debt, despair, betrayal, broken dreams, toddler tantrums, a thousand pressures — His love Endures Forever. So say it again, like a refrain on repeat. In the whirl, circle thoughts around gratitude to Christ. Live concentrically. Go in circles around the right things. The way out of confusion is to concentrate: circle around Christ. Simplicity isn’t a matter of circumstances — it’s a matter of focus. Concentrate on Christ — and life becomes pure, concentrated joy. Go ahead, let the cynics and skeptics can roll their eyes; everyone has the free choice to spin crazy. In the midst of the spinning, there is a doctor: Give Thanks to The Lord, His Love Endures Forever. And I wash off the counter, soak up this ring, this circle of juice. And there’s light over the fields and Hope’s playing her scales and on a blurring world, I’m thinking how there’s this other refrain… how life tastes better when concentrated. ~ Ann Voskamp
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:04:09 +0000
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