Dropping my kids off at school, I change the music to my Lenten playlist. A series of songs that ushers in the sadness and longing of this season begins to play.
“And I won’t regret
What I cannot know yet.
I’m gonna stick around for
Whatever comes next…”
The words land somewhere true as I hear them, and I begin to ponder the invitation to stick around for the unfolding of whatever comes next.
We get many invitations from God throughout our lifetime. Invitations to grieve, invitations to rest, invitations to grow and to wait and to trust. Invitations to step into a dream, “For I am about to do something new. See! I have already begun. Do you not see it?” And I am beginning to notice that many of these invitations call us back. They call us home to a childlike faith.
As a kid, I was full of wonder about the world. I loved birds and trees and fireflies. My curiosity did not need cultivating; it was natural and ever-present as I sponged up the things around me. I trusted. I knew there was something much bigger holding all things together. I knew my need, my limits, and my littleness, but I also sensed my significance. As little as I knew that I was, I believed I had something to offer. I can go back in my mind and find a time when I was confident in my leadership, in my worth, in my gifts and talents, in my participation in a big story that I knew God was writing.
Somewhere along the way, we lose touch with these realities. At different ages and stages wounds, doubts, insecurities, and drives to win and to prove and to earn our belovedness seep into our souls. We question ourselves. We question our emotions and instincts. We are molded and shaped by the cultural narratives around us. Our sight gets blurry.
I’m so grateful that God is a healer of blindness. That He longs to give us back our sight. That He invites us back, through unique and personal invitations, to “turn and become like children.” To turn and come home.
So as I sit here on the edge of a dream, a hope that there can be a place in Memphis for people to come and soak in the love of God, I need that little girl. I want to come home to that place in me that trusts that whatever comes next will be a worthy adventure with a God that I love.
May we notice the invitations of God today and respond by taking His hand and the next step.
A wonderful resource for paying attention to your life and your story is Parker Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak. There is much wisdom to be gained from listening to our lives, to noticing who we have always been. There are many clues sprinkled throughout childhood.
Take some time this week to observe and record the natural ways of your child. What a gift it would be to our own children to make notes about who they are in these little years. We get the opportunity to witness their natural interests, talents, quirks, and uniquenesses. It’s a joy to just behold it and a worthy practice to savor and remember it.
Комментарии