True North

This feeling of redirection and restoration will not leave my heart.  Nor do I want it to.  
I want to point North.  To the True North.  I want my life to keep following Truth and His direction.  But what does that look like?  How can I be further drawn?  How can I further gravitate to all that is True?
I want to point North.  Go North to Him.  Reposition my life so I am pulled to Him instead of pain stakingly try and change course with myself as captain.  I want Him to pull me.  To direct my life.  And I know it isn't the easier way but it is the True way.  And from that I cannot let go. 

My desire is to grow more spiritually.  To seek His face.  To live life with hands open.  
I want to develop a daily practice that focuses on Him.  That redirects my thoughts to the positive, to graditude, to love - to Him.  To meditate on Him day and night as the Psalmist says. 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3; emphasis mine)

Now that I am getting physically stronger and healthier, (I went swimming this morning!!), I am thinking more and more about health.  How to stay healthy.  And the more I think about it, the more I feel drawn to this idea of the True North.  Redirecting there.  Stopping and refocusing on Him and His glory.  In His direction, not my own.  

Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty. (Job 37:22)

One of the most profound lessons I have learned during my health battles is also the simplest.  
Be still & Rest

In this crazy world we live in, taking time out to do nothing seems absurd.  Something I couldn't, or maybe more accurately, wouldn't do before.  But this time has been a gift.  A gift of ensured rest.  
I was forced to stop. Forced to breathe.  Forced into a time of reviewing my life, my health, my beliefs.  And although forced is a harsh word, I so believe I needed to be held down to learn these important things.  
And now, the slow morning filled with devotions, prayer, healthy food, and time to get ready, help fuel my day.  Without my daily practice, my day seems scattered and I find it hard to come back to center.  Back to Him.  
At night I still work on my graditude journal (I have gotten in a bit of a habit of forgetting my journal downstairs and not going to get it once I am bed.. So trying to fix that as I so prefer writing out my day than typing it into a Note on my iPhone!).  But I don't have as much of a routine for my evenings. 
Or really thorough out the day. 

Graditude is something that has definitely changed my life.  And writing a graditude journal in the evening and opened my eyes to seeking joy and being grateful throughout my whole day. 

Honestly, I think this is one of the keys that changed my life.  But I will write more on that specifically another time. 

So now I am beginning a bit of a journey on exploring this.  Exploring daily practice - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  
Exploring how I can connect stronger to True North in everything.  Seeking Him and be centred in Him throughout the day. 
So I am reading and looking into the practice of others.  Praying and seeking what this will look like for me. 
And one of the big things is meditation.  It has been something on my mind for a long time.  The Bible so often talks of meditating on The Lord and His word.  But what does that look like?  The last couple days I have been reading a lot about it.  Reading about conflicts between some meditation and Christianity.  Reading pros and cons to some of the different practices.  And you know, I am honestly kind of unsure where I stand with it all. 
The more I read the more I get pulled one way and then another. 

So meditation... That is what I am looking into more these days and if anyone has any opinions on it, what they do, or what they believe about it - please do share.  I would love to hear about it as I try and figure out what meditating looks like in my life. 

And what my daily practices will become - incorporating rest and being still in Him.  Finding the True North - finding Him in it all throughout every day. 

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. (Psalm 145:5)