Month: October 2017

I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but there’s something about busyness that I love. I love the adventure and excitement that comes with the hustle and bustle of big cities. When I stand in the middle of NYC or Washington, D.C., I am surrounded by sights and sounds and am swept up in the hurry to get to the next place or see the next sight. I also love a busy schedule, filled with back-to-back appointments and action-packed plans.

 

But sometimes we allow busyness to distract us from the soul rest that we so desperately need. If we just keep going, then we don’t have to deal with the heaviness in our hearts. If we just keep going, people won’t see our exhaustion. If we just go until our head hits the pillow, we don’t have to process our emotions. And, perhaps the best part is that people may never see that in us. Especially if we’re really good at playing the part carefully enough.

 

But what if we slowed down?

 

Jesus models what it looks like to slow down in the midst of chaos. In Matthew 26, Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray and plead with the Father. He knows that his arrest is coming, yet he takes time out of the busyness to seek the face of his Father. All throughout Jesus’ ministry, we see him constantly taking time to spend with the Father. He knew that slowing down was critical.

 

My word for the year is obedience. I have been praying for clarity in what that looks like in each season of my life over the past 10 months. In the past month or so, the Holy Spirit has been showing me how counter-cultural obedience to Christ is. Will Reagan wrote a song that has been speaking to my heart in this season (if you haven’t heard it, check out the video below). As I learn more about what it means to be a friend, student, and ARD in the midst of chaos, Jesus is whispering slow down, Brooklyn, and seek me first.

 

Lord I don’t want to rush on ahead
in my own strength
when you’re right here

I’m not in a hurry
when it comes to your spirit
when it comes to your presence
when it comes to your voice
I’m learning to listen
just to rest in your nearness
I’m starting to notice
you are speaking

Lord I want to love like you
I want to feel what you feel
I want to see what you see

open my eyes I want to see you more clearly
open my ears I want to hear you speak
tell me your thoughts what’s on your mind
I’ll be your friend, I want to see through your eyes

 

Obedience looks like slowing down and being present with the very One who speaks truth and life over me. He is strength. He is my rock. He is my wisdom. I don’t have to rush on ahead, in my own strength, when Jesus is calling me to be present with Him, right where I am because he’s there, too.

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJJ_XjyXdaY

 

 

 

 

I’m surrounded by put together people. People who don’t let any hints of authentic humanity sneak out out for fear of how others will respond. I see people putting on their best Christian mask, showing others that their lives are in order. I see masks to cover the realities of past and current hurts and burdens because if someone else sees those, they might quit being a friend.

I wish I was never one of them. But sometimes I am.

As I enter into this interesting and new season of my life, this lesson in vulnerability continues to challenge me.  I encourage my residents and my friends to be vulnerable and authentic with me, but rarely do I want to be vulnerable to them. It’s so much easier to distract myself from my own struggles and hurts by focusing on the other person.

I was eating dinner with a new friend this week and we talked about the way that vulnerability shows up. Someone once explained it to me as a house. When we invite people in, we host them in our nice and clean living rooms and show them the spotless kitchens because we spent time cleaning up for them. The more comfortable we get with a person, the more parts of our house we show them. Very few get to see our junky basements – the places and spaces where we hide the hurts and the burdens. And sometimes, we find ourselves so stuck in our basement, that we can’t help but letting people down, because we can’t bring ourselves out.

There’s power in presence.

Presence doesn’t happen naturally. It takes work and costs us something.

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:1-4

On Monday in chapel (BIBLE MONDAY!), the speaker touched on loving others and suffering with them. But this can’t come from our own strength – we have the free gift of grace from Jesus to suffer with. We are called to humbly value others over ourselves. The Holy Spirit sustains us and guides us and reveals His presence through our presence with others.

I want to be someone who is known for her presence. I want to be a light in the darkest of basements so that others may see Him, not me. But this doesn’t happen overnight. Boundaries have to be learned. Self-care is important, too. And I’m not perfect. I won’t be perfect at this, but I am called to presence. We are called to presence.

There’s power in presence.