Sacred Mundane: The Blog

You know that feeling when there’s someone you really would rather not talk to you so you kind of, well, avoid them.  Well that’s sort of what I’ve been doing with my blog.  I’ve avoided opening the page, avoided checking for comments, pretty much avoided the whole thing.  Why?  I’m a little ashamed to admit, I just don’t have anything to say.  Plus, life shifted into overdrive when Jeff started his new job (which he LOVES, thank You Jesus!), so I feel like it’s been all I can do to keep my head above water.  The house has shown several times, I’m wondering if we’ll need to move right before the baby’s born, I’m now in the third trimester (read: large!), Jeff’s had early and late meetings, and today I took my car in for service to discover we need about $1,100 in maintenance. Gulp.  Deep breath.  Anyway, you know what? Those are the same things that YOU are dealing with, dear friends, right?!  This is life. Nothing strange. Just life.  The sacredness of the mundane, ya?  So, I wish I had some deep spiritual truth to share with you today, but I do not.  And the thing I fall back on when I’m just feeling tired, dry, and spent is thankfulness.  Simple thanks.  This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.  Here’s what I’m thankful for. How about you?  Drop me a comment and share…

I’m thankful

1. For my car service bills because it means I have a car!

2. For rain because it makes Oregon green and gorgeous. (And for the beautiful sunshine today!)

3. For simple pleasures like a pumpkin scone today.

4. For a son who is a stellar nap-taker.

5. For the lively girl in my belly who has all-night dance parties.

6. For sidewalks, legs that work, and my old used stroller that’s worth its weight in gold.

7. For the public library!

8. For our church home that we LOVE LOVE LOVE!

9. For nursery workers who give our little ones so much love!

10. For a sweet husband who picks things up off the floor so I don’t have to stoop as often.

Off to the laundry…bye for now.

24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.  Heb. 10:24-25

There is something so powerful about gathering together for church.  I tell you, it is truly remarkable.  Today was just one of those days. I have no excuse other than being preg…no, I have no excuse. I am just selfish beyond comprehension.  I woke up tired and grumpy. Everything rubbed me the wrong way.  And while I am ecstatic that my husband loves his new job, I found myself pouting like a toddler today thinking, “Jeff this, Jeff that, Jeff’s job, Jeff’s the best, every loves Jeff.  What happend to me?!” How’s that for selfish? Yeah. Jeff was a gem (of course) and listened to me articulate my selfishness, trying to sugar-coat it, but in the end it was spoken and sat out in the middle of the room like a hairy monster showing itself for what it was–really ugly yucky selfishness.  I hate that.

Anyway, we did our best, got to church, and it was seriously like something washed over me when I got in the door.  Of course being loved and welcomed and greeted helped, but as the music began and I started singing, not about myself, but about His name, His greatness, His majesty, in the congregation of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, I was truly changed.  My eyes filled with tears as I sang, “So I let my words be few. Jesus I am so in love with you” and as we sang, “Your name is strong and mighty tower. Your name, is a shelter like no other. Your name, let the nations sing it louder.  Cause nothing has the power to save, but Your name” the glory of God changed my heart.  HE is so beautiful, so worthy, so gracious, so patient, so longsuffering, so awesome.  He didn’t put me in my place or give me a big spanking, He just brought me in the congregation and poured out His glorious presence…and changed my heart.  ANd then as His Word was taught, that light shining in the dark, nasty crevices of my heart.  The stirring, the repentence, the double-edged sword opening up the places that needed His cleansing. ANd then communion,sharing the Lord’s supper together with the family of Christ, remembering His work, His finished work. There aren’t words.

So tonight I’m just so thankful for the assembling together.  As Jeff pointed out on the way home, you could listen to that message on a CD, you could play those songs on a your stereo. You could eat a cracker and drink a sip of grape juice at home, but there is something so powerful about the gathering together of Christ’s body.  We belong to eachother and we’re blessed when we gather in His name.  So I go to bed changed, thankful, humbled, repentent. God showed me some pretty ugly things in my heart (more on that later), but in such a beautiful gracious way.  There is no rule that says we must go to church, and yes you can experience God having church in a coffee shop alone with your Bible.  But let’s not forsake the gathering together (Heb. 10:24-25).  I’m so thankful for my church, the chuch, our church.  Christ’s church. 

 Right now Pastor Joel is preaching through the book of Proverbs.  Sunday’s message was about friendship.  It’s easy, at a quick glance, to think that that’s a pretty light message, maybe one for the kids in sunday school.  But it’s really gotten me thinking about my life and about my own friends.  Now, by way of clarification I think it’s important to make the distinction between acquaintances, or those we are reaching out to by way of extending the love and grace of Jesus, and true intimate friends.  Jesus was “friends” with tax-collectors, sinners, prostitutes, etc.  But he let only a few into his inner circle of vulnerability–namely Peter, James and John.  While our lives will intesect with hundreds of people, we’re talking today about true friends, those few people who you let into the deep inner recesses of your heart, with whom you can be completely vulnerable and to whom you commit every ounce of yourself to. Those are what I mean by friends. 

A few things stood out to me.

First, our culture is starving for true friendship.  We are an independent, self-relient, and tragically lonely people.  We move often, seldom stay at the same church or job for very long, and our transient nature makes forming deep, life-long friendships extremely difficult.  Pastor Joel asked us to raise our hands if we had a true, deep friendship with someone for more than 20 years who we live near and actually see on a regular basis.  I was so blessed to raise my hand, thinking of my dear friend Janae who has been a friend for 28 years (since my birth!), and who I even now see weekly for playdates as our sons are the same age.  I was amazed to see only a small handful of hands raised in the huge congregation of people.  And I was certainly the youngest to have my hand raised!  Wow.  My parents are surrounded by people they’ve known for decades, as they’ve lived in the same town for 38 years.  There is something about the power of history, of just being somewhere for a long time.  It’s not the norm anymore, but I hope and pray that Jeff and I can stay in our new community for the rest of our days.  That’s our plan, Lord willing.   

Second, we’re fools if we think that our friends don’t heavily influence us (Proverbs 13:20, Proverbs, 12:26, 1 Corinthians 15:33).  We tend to think that we are the ones influencing, especially if we’re leaders. And we might be, but I for one am hugely influenced by my friends.  I remember growing up that I’d inevitably start talking like whoever I was hanging out with.  I think I have a little theatrical blood in my veins (ok, more than a little), and it was always easy for me to pick up on mannerisms and speech habits.  I’m not proud of that fact, but it’s the truth.  In fact, I sometimes wish I was a little less impacted by the people around me, but the reality is, we’re all influenced significantly by our closest friends.  Because of that, we’re wise to be careful about who we choose to let into the closest sphere of our life.  My dad always used to say, “You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friends’ nose.”  Yeah, I know.  That’s just the kind of guy my dad is.  The lesson (if there is one) I suppose is that you can pick who you want your life to be influenced by.  Some of my friends influence me to want to be cuter or have nicer clothes. Some make me want to be a better mommy. Some make me want to love Jesus more.  Some make me want to be more generous and giving.  It’s challenging to think through your list of friends and evaluate what impression they leave you with. It’s even more challenging to think through how you influence those same friends.

Further, as one of my good friends pointed out to me recently, some friends are draining and some are life-giving.  I really believe that a true friend is not a true friend unless they are life-giving to you.  Of course there will be times when they will need you to pour into them or vice versa, but in general a true friend is one who gives you life.  Do you have someone in your life who gives you life? It may be more challenging for us introverts, who tend to be more energized by our time alone. But I definitely have those friends who are life-giving to me. I’m blessed and thankful for them. 

Third, it can actually be the most challenging for people who know a lot of people to have true, close, intimate friends.  Those in ministry are a classic example. Everyone knows you….well, everyone thinks they know you. But it’s hard to carefully choose those very few people with whom you can bare your soul.  It’s too easy to just have dozens of casual friendships, but none that can call you on things, see through your facade, carry the load when you’re weary and heavy-laden. 

So the challenge this week is to consider your friends.  Do you have a true, intimate, close friend, besides your spouse?  If so, is that person challenging you to be more Christlike?  Do they steer you away from gossip or self-pity and toward thankfulness and holiness. Do they allow you to be real, blemishes and all? Do they stand with you when you fall?  Do they give you life or drain yours from you? 

But perhaps most importantly, what kind of a friend are you?  He who has friends must first himself be friendly.  The only way to have this sort of friendship is to be this sort of friend.  Do you hold grudges?  Judge people in your heart?  Are you quick to listen, slow to speak?  Do you encourage gossip or encourage prayer?  Do you truly rejoice when others are better than you, or when their victories exceed your own?  Do you lay aside your own wants and desires for the needs of your friend?  Do you get record of wrongs?  Joel said, “good friends are good forgetters.”  True friends learn how to quickly forget our past mistakes, “cover an offense” (Prov. 17:9), and love us with faith in the road ahead.  A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity (Prov. 17:17).

Let’s be these kind of friends.  And if you are blessed with a few close, intimate friends, tell them so.  Write them a note, call, email, do whatever you need to do to tell them  you’re thankful for their friendship.  Overlook the little offense, see past the weakness.  Jesus no longer calls us servants, but calls us friends.  What a privilege we have!  Let’s do the same for one another.