Centered

Eyes closed.  Breath deep.  Hands open.

Prayer time.

In the middle of a living room littered with toys and three small children doing cartwheels around me.

Centered.

Check out this awesome video from Portico Benefit Services (a ministry of the ELCA and our health coverage company.): Slow Down Video -- Working Hard to Live Well?  Perhaps Too Hard.

I like that -- perhaps we're working too hard to live well.

Every year for our health benefits, we take a health assessment.  One question is about stress level.  I paused on that one . . . and smiled.  You know, my plate is full -- heaping full -- nearly spilling over (and sometimes it does.)  But even with a full plate, my stress level is next to nothing.  I gave myself a 2 (because a 1 would be presumptuous.)

Even when I wrote about being overwhelmed, I wasn't stressed.  For me, I guess, those are two very different things.  Overwhelmed is an extremely full plate.  Stress is not letting that plate fall into Jesus' hands.  There is a lack of anxiety and nervousness and worry for me . . . even in the midst of living with a full plate.  (though being worn out is still part of it . . . but a pleasant, tired, I-just-need-a-nap-or-a-movie worn out . . . not a stressful worn out.)

I've been doing centering prayer every day since watching that video six days ago.  (If I do it for 28 days in a row, I'll get points toward reducing my insurance deductible, in a sense.)  But I'm already hooked.  This I will carry with me for months . . . and years.  I like it.

I like the pastor's suggestion on the video -- to use an image and hold it for the five minutes of prayer time.

Lately, my images have been:

• Sitting, cross-legged, on the bottom of a cheerful ocean.  My body buoyed by the water surrounding me -- my hair flowing and waving in the weight of the water -- each hair alive to the surrounding presence of God's love.  Knowing that I don't have to search out God, but God is already here -- at all times -- in all places -- through every strand of my hair.
• Swimming, dolphin-like, through a warm, sparking ocean of God's love.  The water tingling against my hairline as I repeatedly jump in and out of the waves.
• Taking the hand of Jesus . . . and just running . . . following . . . being pulled by his strong, knowing hand . . . confident, sure and alive.

I can take this prayer into the rest of my day -- feeling God's loving ocean surrounding me -- as I pick up toys and take out the garbage and change dirty diapers and study God's word.

It's thrilling.

You should give it a try.