Digging in.

Recently, I sat among our small group's moms and girls.  During the course of a discussion about mom/girl things, someone posed the question, "who do you think you could go to if you had a real problem and needed advice from a friend?"  In other words, who are the trustworthy, truth-telling, there-for-you people you know?  The girls thought for a minute and then pointed to each other as go-to friends.

To understand why I'd consider this even worth mentioning, you should know a bit about these girls.  The girls range from 7th to 9th grade.  None attend school together.  No shrinking violets among them.  Each has friends (many) outside this particular group, and participates in plenty of the usual extracurricular activities.  And yet each is connected to the other in a way that prompted the answer above.  Why?

I've known these girls and their families for some time now, a few for many years, both as a parent and in my Ministry role. So I'm watching their deepening understanding of the Gospel from a unique vantage point.  Here's what I see --

It did not happen overnight.  Understanding developed in their families and within our church community in daily, weekly, year-after-year sorts of ways.  Sunday School.  Worship.  Serving. Gathering. Milestones.  Among teachers and leaders and peers who've walked alongside with a consistency and care that fostered relationship in a trusted learning environment.  And they've shared this experience, for the most part.

It has not been conflict-free.  They are real, growing girls, for heaven's sake.  They and we have worked through conflict in a we're-not-leaving-for-something-better context.  Knowing and loving these people who have known and loved us...over time.  The girls have observed folks who keep showing up and living life together.  People who mess up, and who seek God's grace and (most of the time) the best for each other.  And they've shared this experience too.

They do not spend every minute in our church, but the are regularly present.  I observe (pretty up close) that they receive teaching, are encouraged and challenged, prayed for and held accountable...better equipped for the very full teenager lives they live outside our building.  Better friends.  Better (not perfect!) perspective on their teenager worlds, hopefully becoming more discerning in response to the mixed messages that girls receive daily.  And they've shared this experience.

I hope at this point, you are with me in learning from them a valuable lesson about a community in Christ.  Shared experience of God's grace over time, in living, learning, serving, forgiving, showing up even when people mess up, grows us in a place of trust.  It connects us to share life, young and not-so-young, in awesome, full of laughter times and in painful times where we need to know someone is there for us.  It equips us to love and serve all kinds of people for Christ's glory, and gives us freedom to risk and welcome all comers in His name. 

It doesn't happen overnight.  It doesn't happen once a quarter and on the holidays.  In my own life as a big-girl, I've seen God's faithfulness in building a community around me well before I really needed it and that has grown and equipped me for the places I live and breathe.  And I've seen it in my kids' lives.  And I'm grateful.  And I'm writing all this because I don't want you to miss it.  Dig in, and watch what God does all around you. 

in pursuit.

Recently, I sat down to talk with a friend about work, family, responsibilities that lay ahead, significant concerns about all of the above.  I was just finishing a week of VBS, which I completely love, for all kinds of reasons.  But VBS means high energy over many hours, so I was pretty well spent and planning to take some days off following.  As we talked, the friend looked me in the eye and said, "I am challenging you to courageously pursue rest." 
I don't think I said anything, but I understood what he meant. Maybe because I understand the absence of rest and how hard it is to come by.  Don't get me wrong, I take the 20 minute nap on occasion (ask my kids).  I say no to things.  I feel no compulsion to take on a task to improve my reputation.  But that is more akin to survival than actual rest, at least for me.  It doesn't stop my brain spinning possibilities, or the looking over list of responsibilities I've fallen short on. 
So, last week, I went in pursuit.  It certainly helped to be in a perfectly lovely setting, with a perfectly lovely friend to talk to and laugh with.  Abandoning a schedule is a plus.  Sleep is a real bonus.  But getting quiet...inside my own head...setting aside the lists and the spinning was the toughest, and of course, most restful.  Taking in and enjoying the rest found in God's beautiful creation was fuller and more relaxing, with more openness to His word.    I could have stayed longer, frankly, but the rehab was enough to reengage, I think.  And hopefully, I've returned more willing to find ways in my everyday world to rest in Christ.  Feel free to remind me of these words; no doubt I'll need it.  For now, I challenge you to your own courageous pursuit.  Rest.