Ever been to sea?

If you have, you just might have experienced a bout of seasickness. For landlubbers, the first time on a boat that is rolling and pitching on the waves can produce feelings of nausea.

Why is this?

The problem is a disconnect between the messages your eyes and your inner ear are giving your brain. If you’re in an enclosed space on a boat, your eyes tell you that you’re standing on level ground. The fluids swishing around in your inner ear, however, tell a different story: that you’re being tossed to and fro. It’s the contradictions between these messages that produces the sensation of seasickness.

So what’s the solution?

A time-tested remedy for seasickness is to get up on deck and look at the horizon: it’s the only thing that isn’t moving when the boat you’re aboard encounters heavy seas.

Looking at a fixed target gives your eyes a stationary point of reference, allowing your brain to reconcile this information with the motions your inner ear is reporting. Once you can see what “level” is, your brain can more easily deal with the feeling of movement from your inner ear.

And this isn’t just an old-wives’ tale: scientific studies have backed up the idea that staring at the horizon actually does make you feel steadier while at sea.

But what if you’re on dry land and feel “seasick” with the turbulence in your life?

What if it feels like the challenges in your life have put you in heavy, roiling seas, and you can barely tell up from down?

The same advice applies: focus on a fixed point, something that can be relied upon not to change.

For believers, that thing is Jesus.

He is our North Star, the one who guides us through life’s stormy seas.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is a firm foundation, the Rock on which we stand. He’ll never forsake us.

When we focus on these truths, we have something enduring and changeless to steer towards. Even in the roughest seas, Jesus’ love and salvation are solid and secure: they’re things we can anchor our souls to.

So when it feels like the boat you’re on in life is pitching and rolling, look up over the gunwales to the horizon: Jesus.

This will provide you with needed perspective, because He may be the only thing in your life that isn’t moving. This can help reset your internal equilibrium and reassure your brain that your life hasn’t actually turned upside down. There is something stationary and safe you can hold on to.

And when you keep focussing on Jesus, your horizon, you’ll soon see that there are calmer waters up ahead!

© 2023 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.