Centered

When I first started throwing pots on the wheel, centering clay was the most important thing to learn. Of course I could watch my Uncle Robert center a piece of clay on the wheel in a matter of seconds...it was as if he had done it a million times. He made it look so easy. 

For me...learning to center clay was a journey.  A long, frustrating, annoying journey. There were times when I would walk away angry...maybe even a few times that I threw a piece of clay off the wall or at the garbage. There was a broken wheel from applying too much pressure. Of course I bought the inexpensive one even though he told me not to. There were days when I didn’t want to even look at that wheel. But it became like a challenge that I had to conquer to be able to move forward in life. Centering clay was the obstacle in front of me. 

See, if you never learn how to center the clay when you connect it to the wheel, you never really can learn how to make anything of any value. If the clay is off center, then when you begin to raise it up the results become more and more lop-sided...or, as I like to call it, wonky. So the key to creating something nice and uniform is centering the clay. And it isn’t easy to learn to do. It’s learning to let the wheel, the water, and your hands work together, while also learning the touch. And it’s a challenge. 

But here is the thing...see, learning to center ourselves is really important too. In fact, it’s in our human nature. We typically find and create ways to center our lives around the things we love. Maybe it’s another person. Maybe it’s money. Things. Stuff. Our family. Our career. An addiction. Entertainment. It’s different things at different times for all of us. But the bottom line is that we all center our lives around something or someone that we love and we make everything revolve around that thing. We make decisions in view of that thing that we are centered on. We see life through the lens of the thing(s) that we love. 

And, depending on what that thing is, that really isn’t healthy. Generally speaking, it leads to us being successful in that arena...but the rest of life suffers as a result. And there is only one place where we can center our lives that causes everything else to bloom, flourish, be beautiful...and that is Jesus. When we center our lives on our relationship with Jesus it blesses everything we do, every relationship we have, every place we enter, and every interaction we engage in. Everything is enhanced because it is connected to the true source of life. 

Just like centering that clay, centering your life around Jesus is hard. It’s tough to learn. It’s challenging. And it can be frustrating. But if you center your life on anything or anyone else...as you go on your journey...places are going to get wonky...like really wonky, and wobbly, and twisted. You are going to create things that are ugly and unproductive...only worthy to be thrown off the wall, if you know what I mean. There is only one way to be truly centered and when you find the way to do that...all things are possible.

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