When I was in high school I was on our dance team. I can still remember watching them as a little girl and wanting to be a part of that team. They were the best in the state and won invitations to the national competition every year. So my sophomore year I tried out and was granted one of the few open places on the team. I can still remember showing up to practice that first day and quickly realizing that my “natural dance talent” was light years behind these girls who had been in dance since they were two or three years old.
After a summer of 6:30am practices in our school parking lot, we headed to dance camp. This camp was three days of dancing from 7am to 8pm and then you practiced in your rooms to make sure you had your choreography down. Instead of girls chatting and having fun, we practiced and shared Icy Hot and ibuprofen so we could fight off the pain of that day’s work. My first summer we had a clinic for us “new dancers” that taught us basic technique. One of the first things they taught us was how to do a proper pirouette. (That’s a turn in case you don’t know the lingo.) Though it may seem simple to turn in a circle, there is one major secret that all dancers know in order to make your turns perfect, and that is to spot. Spotting is when you pick out a point in the room at eye level, and you rotate your head so you are constantly looking at that spot every time you turn around.
Spotting will keep you from getting dizzy, keep you from moving all over the place when you are turning, and allow you to do multiple turns in a row without losing your balance. Our instructor explained how it is absolutely impossible to properly execute a turn without spotting. Your eyes must return to that fixed point to keep you focused on what you were doing.
I was reading through a devotional recently that connected this idea of spotting with our daily walk with Christ. In Sarah Young’s devotion “Jesus Calling” she writes:

“Make me your focal point as you move through this day. Just as a spinning ballerina must keep returning her eyes to a given point to maintain her balance, so you must keep returning your focus to me. Circumstances are in flux, and the world seems to be whirling around you. The only way to keep your balance is to fix your eyes on Me, the One who never changes. If you gaze too long at your circumstances, you will become dizzy and confused. Look to me, refreshing yourself in My Presence, and your steps will be steady and sure.”

Just as a dancer will have to fix their eyes on a constant point to keep their balance, so must we focus our eyes on Jesus to keep our life balanced. It is all too easy to be distracted by the things that come each day. Sometimes it can feel as if our world is spinning out of control and we will fall over at any moment. But if we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can know that He will lead us, guide us, and keep us steady and upright. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So as you go through today, fix your eyes on Jesus. As we keep our focus on Him, we can trust that He is in control of all these situations that seem to be overwhelming. We just need to fix our eyes on Him, and as we keep spinning, He will turn our life into a beautiful dance.