Carried Away

Yesterday, I talked about finding that still place inside of you even when you can't stop moving.  It cuts down on motion sickness when you engage yourself in something more than the ride.

And it doesn't have to be anything outward, anything physical.  It's just about focusing your energies into something and creating a place of non-movement within all of the motion of the world.  And I warned you a beautiful thing happens.  That is this:

You set yourself up to get carried away.

Isn't that the same, you might ask, as having no skin in the game, having no engagement in the motion, having no inner stillness, no sense of anything to ground you?  Not at all.  Completely different.  The way most of us are doing life right now - the way we're rocked by the motion of the world, the way we're passengers in the journey of life, the way we're just waiting to get "there" so we can stop for just a second - that's nowhere near carried away.  That is dragged around.

That is fear - are we really going anywhere?  That is exhaustion - will we ever find rest?  That is spinning and dizzy and disorienting and sickening to the stomach.  That is not at all what carried away is.

Carried away...is more content for the journey.  It hardly notices the motion because it is centered, still, within itself.  It doesn't much matter where carried away is going because when you look around, you're somewhere new, and that's just fine.  There is no destination, no end to the journey.  There is no waiting on that next exit sign in the hopes of stopping for just a little bit.  There's just this.  There's just this going and you hardly even notice it.  Because you don't care where you end up.

When you're grounded, when you've found that place within yourself that ignores the motion and engages you in something new, you just don't care where you're going.  You're not counting miles.  You're not watching the gas gauge. You're not angry at the rest of the traffic that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and isn't in a hurry to get there.  It's just a journey, and you're excited.  You're ready to roll.

And you even look around every now and then and discover that not only are you ready to roll, you've already been rolling.  For Lord knows how long.  And you're on your way to somewhere, somewhere exciting, even if you've never heard of the place before.  You're being carried away.  There is no fear.  There is no exhaustion.  There is no spinning, disorienting, dizzying feeling.  There is no sinking feeling in the pit of your gut.

Because you were created for this.  We were created to be carried away.  We were created to ride the waves of the world - so long as we have found the faith within us that keeps us steadied, that keeps us grounded, that keeps us still.  It's a delicate balance, but it's awesome.  God created it to be that way.

Too often, I know I still feel dragged around.  I feel like a passenger in this journey we call life, but I'm working on it.  I don't necessarily have to take the wheel to be a part of things; I just have to engage myself in something, find that thing that grounds me and fuels me and centers me so I can feel the stillness within me, the peace even amid the motion.  Then all of a sudden, I find myself carried away and that is a pretty cool trip to take.