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I Think I Found the Secret

April 22, 2012 in Deep Thinking, Just Life

It was 2 years ago today. I was on the road somewhere between Indianapolis & Nashville. It was a cool but full of sunshine morning & my first mission after checking out of the Super 8 I’d stopped at around 12:30am the night before was to find a Starbucks. A few exits down the interstate with a Caramel Machiatto in hand & my soundtrack set I was ready for the drive to Nashville.

I was on mission “Take a Break from Appleton” & in the middle of wrestling about what to do with the my life. Would I stay at the church I was working at or leave? 6 weeks prior I had been in Nashville when God punched me in the gut with a stranger’s question which left me reeling as I realized I had been ignoring His still small voice for months now.

Truth be told, somewhere my head knew that it was time to move on & my heart knew it was no longer at home in Appleton, but the two hadn’t yet communicated with one another. That phone call or email or text message…whatever it was…came on I-65 somewhere south of Indy that morning. I don’t remember a lightening strike “ah ha” moment, but I know that when I arrived in Nashville later that day I told a friend I had come to peace with the decision to leave my job.

I didn’t know, then, that it was possible for a city to woo me. For a city to be a community that would teach me relationship. For a community to be people that would teach me what it meant to truly do life with others.

I was at the Nashville Public Library yesterday & was taken by this quote from Martin Luther King Jr. on the wall:

At last I’d found words that seemed to perfectly answer the question “why.” Why Nashville? Two years later I now know that it’s because a city wooed me. And a city can woo me because a city is a community. And the movement that has taken place in this community I know today is love. Love that encourages, supports, challenges, & ultimately inspires. If there’s a secret, I think that’s it. And for me, that secret has made all the difference.

I also discovered a challenge on Saturday at the library:

It’s pointless to discover the secret if it doesn’t move me to action. And the time for action isn’t when I go on a hunt for a new secret in a new city in another lifetime. No, the time is now. The place is here. If I’ve been inspired then I’d best do something with it.

 

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What Do you Do With a Heart that Knows Eternity?

April 18, 2012 in Deep Thinking, Just Life

“He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

That passage has been sitting in my spirit for a couple of months now. It’s been sitting there because it gives me peace. It makes me feel a little less crazy. And it gives me patience to journey through the tension of every day life.

My heart knows that this is not it…that there is more than this life. It knows of a place of perfect beauty & worship & rest. And that place is home. My heart knows life in eternity because that’s what it was originally designed for. You see, if eternity is set in my heart, then at the end of the day the question isn’t whether or not I’m going to be restless. It’s a given.

The question is what am I going to do with it. Will I let it consume me? Let it hold me back? Will I give into its temptations to simply survive each day until it’s over? Or will I let the restlessness drive me close to the Father. Will I lean into Him for the peace only He can give – a peace that doesn’t eliminate the restlessness but makes it bearable? A peace that allows me to not just endure this life but to live awake on the journey.

That is the challenge for me – deciding what I’m going to do with the restlessness. I’ve come to accept it. But deciding what I’m going to do with it is a battle. A choice I have to wrestle with with each new day.

Do you feel that restlessness? What do you do with it? 

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The Child Inside

April 16, 2012 in Deep Thinking, Just Life

“The child inside you is not immature but quite in tune with life.” – Unknown

I’m not sure exactly how old I was in this picture…I’m going to guess it’s my 3rd Birthday. But that doesn’t so much matter. I want to discover this child inside…

A child full of joy
A child in awe of the world
A child drawn to the simple things
A child with an imagination
A child fully alive

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The Magical Ordinary

April 2, 2012 in Deep Thinking, Just Life

When we are present, we see that there really is a Divine Plan and that it is happening right now. Consciously participating in the miraculous unfolding of reality is the Holy Work, and it is the greatest source of satisfaction that we can have. (from “Understanding the Enneagram”)

Whether it’s seeing the stories written in a friend’s hands of a land far away, catching the light on Spring blossoms, the setting sun hitting the grass just right, the vibrant colors of spring, soaking up the warm sunshine, running through the falling rain, the urban textures of metal & brick, broken glass, a worn out sign, or weathered wood; the ordinary becomes truly magical when you stop long enough to soak it in.

Three months into focusing on seeing, I’ve come to realize that seeing cannot help but foster gratitude; which is ultimately worship. And as a creature designed to worship my Creator, I am without question most alive when I worship. And so, seeing is life. Seeing the magical in the ordinary has become my key to life. When my soul feels parched, my heart heavy, seeing quenches the thirst & slowly my heart lifts its head to see the beauty & life not just on the other side of the struggle but right in the middle of it.

To consciously participate in the miraculous unfolding of reality…that is my goal this week. Will you join me? 

 

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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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