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Don’t Just Be Here to Be Here

March 27, 2012 in Deep Thinking, Just Life

In high school one of my favorite movies was “Save the Last Dance.” (Okay, so maybe I can still recite it line by line when I watch it.)

There’s a scene where good friends Chenile & Sarah are sitting in the waiting room of a free clinic having a conversation about “different worlds.” The room is full of sick screaming kids like Chenile’s son and young parents who are at their wits end as they wait to see a doctor.  At one point Chenile says to Sarah:

“You wanna be a friend? Don’t just be here to be here. Open up your pretty brown eyes & look the hell around.” 

“Don’t just be here to be here.”

Don’t go through life half asleep, wake up.  Don’t stay numb, feel. Don’t just survive, thrive. Don’t just look, see. 

In our always on, always running, uber-connected world it’s easy to just be here. All of the noise makes it hard for the eyes of my heart & soul to see the grace in every moment. And on those days when my heart & soul are having trouble seeing, I’m particularly grateful for eyes that lead me to worship, eyes that can help me to slow time if I will open them up & look around…if I will choose to see.

It’s the discipline of seeing…of opening up my eyes & looking around…that helps me to do more than just be here to be here. It’s what helps me to be fully present in any given moment. I have to train my eyes to slow me down, to cause me to pause and soak in the beauty that surrounds me, to take the time to see people & to make people feel seen, to see God’s goodness in every moment of the good days & the bad.

What habits & disciplines help you do more than simply be here? 
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In the Middle of the Storm

March 15, 2012 in Deep Thinking, Just Life


The weather in Nashville this week has been Spring perfect – 80 degrees & sunshine until mid to late afternoon at which time thunderstorms roll in. Around 8pm the rain clears out & the perfectly cool Spring evenings take it’s place. The weather I’d have in heaven if it was up to me. :)

This week has also been challenging. I’ve been restless. Unfocused. Frustrated that I can’t grip life neatly in my two hands. But there’s been a reminder in the middle of every single one of those thunderstorms - there is beauty not just on the other side of but in the middle of the storm…of the restlessness, the frustration, the questions…if I will only seek it out.

Yes, beauty in, not just on the other side of. It’s easy to believe in beauty on the other side because it comes to us. It drops itself into our hands & becomes tangible. But beauty in the middle of the storm…in the hard places…it must be searched for, hunted down, & taken hold of. It requires choosing to believe, to rely on faith, & to call on hope with courage.

But, if I’m going to believe in a God who makes beautiful things out of the dust I have to believe in a God who makes beautiful things out of the falling building as it is in the process of crumbling to pieces. A God who promises not freedom from the storm but peace in the middle of it. Who offers hope in the middle of the hurt not just in the healing. Who makes the sun shine even as the rain comes pouring down. A God who says I know the journey is painful right now but I’m not going to let you walk it alone.

What beauty do you see the middle of your storm right now? Have you found it?

 

 

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The Mess

February 20, 2012 in Deep Thinking, Just Life

 

If there is one thing I’m reminded of daily it’s this: life is messy. It is a complex, multi-layered, spaghetti tangled, mess.

I’m discovering, though, that if I can accept that fact, I can see the beauty in the mess. And the beauty makes the mess bearable. I can even embrace it.

Embracing the mess means I stop waiting for life to get better & start living. Right now. In this moment. In the middle of broken relationships, tension at work, questions about faith, forgotten dreams, & health battles.

Accepting that fact…that life is messy…relieves a bit of the pressure to “fix it” or “get life in order.” I’m not saying we don’t try but we try knowing full well that we will fail. That we may rearrange the mess but we will never eliminate it. Because the mess…life…is so much bigger than us. But I also know that there is One who is bigger than the mess.

What mess are you embracing in your life in this moment?

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In Between

February 13, 2012 in Creativity, Deep Thinking, Just Life

What do you do with the space in between?
The space between your dreams & the perhaps not so shiny daily reality.
The seemingly large chasm between here & there.
Between what you want & what you have.
The gap between the life you were designed to live & the live you’re living.
What do you do with the space between a Kingdom that is here & not yet?
A hope that is realized & yet to come.
The gray space between the darkness & the light.
What do you do with the space in between? The kind of space that creates tension. 

I think we usually do one of three things:

  1. Make a choice. Pick one side or the other. Simply to alleviate the tension.
  2. Attempt to run out of the space in a completely different direction.
  3. Wait. Sit in the space. Accept the tension. And wait.

Number one often leads to poor choices that we end up wishing we could hit the rewind button on at some point. The second often leads to the same thing. Before we know it the life we’re living looks nothing like the one we know we were created for. 

The third option? It may be the hardest & most immediately painful of all. But, I’m convinced it’s also the most rewarding. And even more than that, the tension of the space in between may be the birth place of some of our greatest creativity. 

So I encourage you to sit in the space. But don’t just sit there. Ask God to meet you in the space. Learn from it. And more importantly, fill it. Fill the space with beauty through your art. Extinguish the darkness with the light. You may just discover that the space was not as unwelcoming as you once thought…that it didn’t want you to stay anymore than you wanted to be there. And before you know it, you might look back to find that you’ve created your way out of it.

 What do YOU do with the space in between?

*** This post was inspired by the Luminous Project. Luminous is an event in Nashville for creatives on May 9-11, 2012. To find out more, check out luminousproject.com. You can use the promo code ‘luminousLOVE’ to get 30% off the ticket price. ***

 

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With Seeing Comes Responsibility

February 8, 2012 in Deep Thinking

What is that line from Spiderman? “With great power comes great responsibility.” 

I’m beginning to learn that the same is true with seeing. When you eyes are opened there is no going back. With seeing comes responsibility.

Responsibility to act.
To share what you see.
To speak the truth in love.
To live the truth in love.
To be patient & sit in the tension between the old reality & the new.

Seeing is information…knowledge. And knowledge forever changes things. Information changes the reality that once was & there is no going back to the way things were. I’m discovering that part of seeing is also learning how to redefine & navigate a new reality in light of what is seen.

And that may be the hardest part of all.

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