Move

It’s a linear concept we often overlook. When I think about movement, so many ways to move come to my mind. Worshipping the Lord, exercising, moving back to school, traveling, just “doing.” Movement is the concept that has been on my mind the past few weeks. As the summer draws to a close and I begin to think about my move back to school, I realize the shift that will begin to take place. I will be moving from a place I’ve grown to love to a place I haven’t been in four months. But no matter where I move, the Lord is ever-present and never changing. Though the world moves rapidly around me, my foundation is firm and constant. The Lord calls us to move, though, with the confidence that he is our rock, to make a difference and glorify Him through it all. In this post, I thought I would share with you about the different “moves” in my life.

One of the new ways I have learned to move is, don’t laugh, yoga.

I’ll admit, I was one of those people that used to mock and laugh at the people that practiced yoga. “Downward Dog” was never my idea of worship. I used to be self conscious about closing my eyes and letting the muscles of my face “soften around the eyes.” This summer my friend and roommate, Becky, introduced me to a new type of yoga. Contemplative Movement. Becky is a yoga instructor and outdoor-adventure-extraordinaire. She taught Contemplative Movement (the Christian version of yoga) at camp this summer and I decided to broaden my horizon and try it out. It was relaxing, strengthening, challenging, and meditative. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Contemplative Prayer is considered to be a pure gift from God. It is the opening of mind and heart-our whole being- to God, beyond thoughts, words, and emotions.

The two main struggles I’ll admit to with yoga was having to wake up at 6:30 (let me tell ya.. tough.) and wandering thoughts during my time of contemplative prayer. Thoughts like, How am I doing? This peace is just great! What the heck was the name of that song I really liked? Just ordinary wanderings of the imagination. But the Lord does a good job of gently reeling me back in to the reason I’m doing contemplative movement in the first place: to glorify and worship Him through movement. I am now a proud yoga lover, not just because it makes me feel great, but because it is a newly discovered form of worship to my heavenly Father, who gave us the gift of movement.

The next “move” that has occurred while here at camp is simply physical activity. I felt very sedentary before I came to camp. Being here with all these amazing opportunities to get up and move has been awesome for me. I’ve been kayaking more times than I can count, rock climbing, practiced yoga, water skiing, hiking, cliff jumping and, I never thought I would say this, running. Scratch that, I meant jogging. Readers, if you know me at all, you know I don’t think running is the most fun form of exercise. I haven’t even run all that much since I’ve been here, but I think I’m getting that chemical in your body that makes you want to run. to move. It’s great! And I hope it stays!

The most obvious big move is the move back to school. Ah! Stress, stress, stress. A lot of unexpected things have happened this summer as far as what this coming year entails. The first big change is we’re getting a new roommate. Hannah, Alli, Kellie, Bethany, and I were going to be living in an apartment in JR this semester. We still are, but Bethany will be going to Liberty Univ. this semester. We knew there was a chance that she would leave in the future, but never expected it to be so soon. The Lord has a plan for everything, and because of that I’m very excited for Bethany. I know she had Christ in the center of her decision. The first time she told me about the news, I was a little saddened, only because I was looking forward to sharing a room with her and having late night pillow talks. It’s an adjustment I will have to live with , Bethany and I will just have to have our pillow talks over skype :)

Because Bethany will not be living with us, we have an extra spot. Honestly, I was hoping I could have some time to settle down into my room before someone else moved in, so we figured we wouldn’t make a big woop-di-do about it to housing. We found out last week, however, that we will be getting a new roommate. This means, depending on how much we “blend,” I will either be sharing a room with her or one of the other girls. It’s up in the air right now, but please keep the rooming situation in your prayers. Please pray for cohesion between us girls as this will be a new environment for us all as well as our new roommate. Since we all know each other, I can’t imagine how she feels about the “new girl.” I pray she does not feel that way as that will make for an uncomfortable atmosphere, and if you know me, I hate having people feel left out.

I’m always on the go. And so is my mind. I’ve already been thinking about what to do with my next summer. Work on a ranch in Colorado, pack fish in Alaska with my good friend Chelsea, work at an international camp overseas. The options are endless. But my summers are not. Time flies, and I’ve only got three summers left before I step into the real world of adults. But whatever I do, I’m always moving with my Father right next to me, and that gives me the confidence that “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” Adventure is out there! Just move.

Carly Chase showed this video to me and I thought I would share it with you. It's pretty legit.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.