Life In the Center of Life

I. Experience

Recently we renamed our counseling and education center. We now call it “Centered Life.” When we speak to people about what our new name means we often have difficulty describing what it is to live a “centered life.” Some folks seem to easily know what this is about, and some really don’t get it.

My wife, Pam, and I recently had an experience that may help. We were part way up Cottonwood Pass outside of Buena Vista, Colorado. It was a glorious Fall day with a light breeze, warm sunshine, and the smell of fallen aspen leaves. Sitting and lying upon these leaves beside a small mountain brook while looking through graceful but bare aspen limbs was idealic. The moments stretched on. There was nowhere else we wished to be. We were smack, dab in the middle of God’s Creation and it just couldn’t get any better than that. It was timeless. It was spacious. It was Grace manifest. I felt my invisible roots reach deep into the earth, following the mountain moisture as it seeped through the rocks and soil beneath me. I felt my spirit sour, through the aspen branches, into the blue sky to mix with wispy clouds. Rooted; at peace; knowing exactly who I am. Centered.

I have imagined and remembered these moments many times since. How I wish I could maintain this clear perspective when stressed or afraid. That would really be centered life!

II. Explanation

Centered Life means maintaining a close relationship with our calm, inner center, which knows inner peace amidst the busyness of everyday life. In this peace we know clarity, focus, and balance. Some call this the Soul that rests in God’s presence.

As a spiritual community, alive in a fractured, fragmented world, we bring the hope of this centered calmness to individuals and to the faith communities we serve, believing that knowing ourselves deeply is basic to knowing others. This knowledge of self rests upon an acceptance of our own humanity, which then leads us to accept the many differences represented in the human family.

A truly centered life means we know the inner stability that allows openness to the continual change all around us, openness even to the changes that challenge our notions of spirituality, group loyalties and expectations of how the future should unfold.

III. My Prayer

We seek to be well-centered people, standing firmly on a clear, inner foundation. May we know who we are as spiritual beings. May we clearly know our thoughts, feelings and values. Regardless of internal or external pressures, who we are with, or what events might befall us, may we be true to our heart felt purpose in life to be who we are truly meant to be.

May our attempt at living centered lives never become a creed, but remain always a sense of deep relationship to self and others that connects one soul to another in God’s life-giving Spirit.