POISED TO LEAP
A poem written by Njeri Archer © 2022
Stretching became a lesson as God blessed a sudden session of extending my body to extremities, posed to dance through life’s questions.
A steep reach towards open windows, an angled stretch towards the wall, made room for Holy Spirit guided eyes to rise with tools and glimpses for the call. Gifting glitches and sudden fixes paved new faith by grace in all. Blessed by the awareness of his mission , Light came to shine through something small.
Observing what we see is only part of the way, receiving as he teaches leads to choices we must make. With tweaks in peace we reach for God, He leads us to right ways. We execute the steps into the vision that he gave.
POISED TO LEAP
STRETCHING
A sudden urge to stretch became a beautiful moment at the Father’s feet. Familiar dance rehearsal stretches came to mind; my body followed with deep breaths. Lifting one foot backwards towards the wall and one arm forward, I reached extending towards a window aiming to balance. With concentrated breath, I stood firmly on one leg and extended the other, lifting as far and high as it could go.
The challenge was to remain stable in an extended, one footed stand. In ballet this move is commonly referred to as an ‘arabesque’ pose. Closing my eyes attempting to emulate the vision in my mind, I noticed something felt off with the positioning. In my head the stretches looked great until I observed my posture. That’s a word for life and heart. What I thought appeared as I imagined took some physical adjustment to accurately execute the poses I remembered from class. Our lives teach.
ROUND 2
After opening my eyes and shifting into correct posture, thoughts carelessly wandered. With many things in imagination, my body began to wobble unstably as eyes darted around the room at different objects. After shaking that, I paused, focused my eyes on one place in the room and tried again. Round 3 began smoothly and naturally flowed into the correct position.
GEMS & LIGHTBULBS
With no physical point of eye focus there was stumbling. How true is this in all thing’s life? As thoughts ventured off, it became challenging to hold the stretch and remain balanced in position. The moment I chose a focal point in the room I was in and stared intently at it, within seconds I retained effortless balance.
God taught a personal lesson about the power of anchored focus. Through a simple physical activity, the Lord demonstrated how things can appear in our lives. An unplanned moment for a stretch routine identified patterns of lifestyle. It represented unconscious and habitual behaviors that drew me away from the goal, pose and simple stretch routine.
Had I ignored the sense of misalignment and not checked my posture, with closed eyes, remaining in my imagination, I would have eventually injured myself doing the stretch wrong. How true is this for life in all things?! I was mind blown as the Holy Spirit humbled me with these truths in personal experiences.
SHIFT AND REBOOT
While in movement in any area, we must observe the physical elements necessary to stay in the position of our original intentions. We need God to achieve fruitful synchronicity of mind, body and soul. Without God, the effort comes with a different cost which is commonly peace and strained physical, mental or emotional wellbeing. Eventually, we burn out trying to keep up or control outcomes obtained from a jarred perspective.
The good news is when doing something incorrectly we feel it. Our body tells us. Our souls become uneasy. The Holy Spirit works this way as well. With a quick glance and shift we can adjust our position and future. With our eyes peered on our chosen point of focus we carry out and perfect the move we initiated. If we heed instructions, our minds and bodies reap the benefits. From there, our hearts are encouraged to keep going and soar further than we imagined.
LOVE SAY’S
‘Despise not small beginnings’ 1 . This word of advice is real and true. There are gems that cannot be learned on a mountain top. It’s in the small steps and details that true lessons, beauty, gratitude and appreciation is formed. God is with us. Pray and start anywhere. With God on our side, small beginnings evolve into greatness with patience.
Let’s continue to pray for one another’s strength in love and grace! Be encouraged! 2 In all things give thanks.3 Peace and blessings to you!
LESSONS & BLESSINGS
1. With God, we have an ever-present voice telling us when to glance and shift. 4
2. Willingness to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit enables us to shift into the correct position and area of focus. 5
3. The body will naturally follow the mind’s focus. Improving posture and correctly executing any move is the blessing that comes from our ability to receive and trust God’s guidance.
4. God is always present and speaks in everyday life through the simplest things. Pay attention to subtle reveals, within it there are gems for good life.
5. Resist the desire to stay in your head.6 When our eyes are open and our hearts and minds are surrendered, when we decide to act, we can properly achieve the vision we intended. 7
6. Pray, pray and pray again. There is a reason Jesus said give us this DAY our daily bread. 8 There is a reason God’s mercy is new every morning.9 If you’re human, you need it (even if you think all of your I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed). There’s a lot going on in within us and in our worlds . We need God every day. 10
7. When something is off, we feel it . When we open our eyes to see what it could be, we create the opportunity to realign. Thoughts alone can misconstrue our perceptions. As we seek God’s word and revelation, we can consciously choose to adjust. We have the choice to pursue the greater vision or remain off balance by choosing to only to rely on what we retained in our minds.
Glow 