Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your way?
I’m not talking about an uncertainty of one’s future. That qualifies more as adventure than being lost.
To lose one’s way is to no longer be certain about one’s present way of living life. It’s like you started out aware of who you are and what your daily rhythm for good living looked like, and then one day…
…you didn’t.
This might be characterized by a shift in behaviour. You were living a reasonably disciplined life, going to the gym, eating right. Your social life and family relationships were healthy and consistent. Then suddenly, in what seemed like no time at all, these things started to break down. Your disciplined life got sloppy. Your relationships got stale.
It’s as though you were a train that had come off the rails, but you hadn’t noticed it happening.
I would ask you to consider the possibility that your soul came out of alignment. There is a sweet spot for one’s emotional well-being. I refer to this spot as centredness.
How do we get out of alignment? Well, the question almost assumes something about ourselves that I believe to be untrue. We believe that we are capable of living our lives in a perfect straight line. We find the right number of hours to sleep per day. We find the ideal job. The marriage and parenting are going great. And so, many of us come to believe that all we have to do is dial that life in and walk a straight line for the remainder of our days.
What we fail to realize is two important truths:
- The world around us moves and shifts on us constantly.
- We don’t walk in a straight line for very long.
Coming out of alignment is both natural and inevitable. You’re a solid sleeper until one day you aren’t. You’re a champion spouse and parent until one day, you’re all in counselling together. Your career path is going superbly until one day, you get served a layoff notice.
The nature of who you are and the life around you serve as evidence that you will frequently come out of alignment in your life.
And this misalignment isn’t always a traumatic shift in your life. Remember, it’s a train coming off the rails, but you hadn’t noticed it happening. It feels more like a staleness than a calamity. You don’t feel the same zeal or fervour for getting out of bed. You become personally familiar with the phrase “the same old same old.”
And that brings be back to the centredness. I believe that when one is soul-centred, even if life is less than ideal, the attitude about that life causes one to feel healthy inside. Imagine that you haven’t found a job in months but inside you feel content and at peace knowing that your opportunity is just around the corner. Imagine that you’ve been single and alone for years, but inside, you are not at all concerned or anxious about when Mr. or Mrs. Right will come along. What allows some people to look like their lives are amazing when it is clear they have a lot of real tough issues going on?
The answer is centredness.
Because we all frequently come out of alignment, the trick is to become good at recentring. Catch the shift early. Take steps to focus on the things that bring you peace.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul” (Psalm 23:1-3).
I recommend you really take the time to dwell on these verses. Hear how the Lord deals with His children who lose their way.
The common denominator here is seeking God in times of misalignment. If you are constantly drawing near to Him, talking to Him, preoccupied with Him, seeking to serve Him with your life, you will never come too far out of alignment. The staleness and feeling of losing one’s way become negligible. God will keep your paths straight and will recentre your heart.