‘Tis The Season
I took this picture outside of my apartment three days ago.
This picture isnt amazing because of the photographer, or because someone spent a whole afternoon in photoshop… because all of that isnt ture… It’s not amazing because Belmont University is located in a specific part of town that gets the best sunsets… or because I have the ability to take something and make it into something that isn’t. The reality is that I not some fancy photographer, and you couldn’t make this picture look better if you tried putting it in photoshop… and location really isnt what’s the good part of this picture.
The reality of this boils down to one simple concept that is the heart to why this picture is as beautiful as it is… GOD.
Have you ever sat and taken a moment to understand the wonders of his creation? this crazy concept that we are on this ball… spinning at an incredible rate around a star? Have you been able to look at the trees around and the clouds in the sky and understood how much detail and majesty is in each of these?
I mean… in the crazy times of our so-called-busy-lives here on this incredible planet, have we been able to sit down for even a few hours [which in light of the amount of time we have in a day or week or month really isnt much] to just soak in the incredible LOVE of our creator? Have we taken time out of our so-called-busy-lives to just appreciate everything that is His? Have we had a second to breathe, in our so-called-busy-lives, the incredible smells of his creation? A second to comprehend the very thing that God considers valuable… his creation?
Have you processed at all that you are EVERYTHING he wants?
That you are HIS?
That you are simply beautiful?
God loves you! with such abundant grace and forgiveness…
Have you had a chance to realize that God [the one who invented busyness] is waiting for you to run to him?
Thats what Im talking about… and honestly appreciating the heart of this season… Loving the wonderful creations of our maker!
I have soo many stories of things God revealed to me while I spent 10 days in Asia… and those stories will come in time… but I feel like God was telling me that first, we need to get our heart right. We need to understand what it means to bask in His love. To genuinely appreciate the things around us that mean a whole lot to God. His people.
So as we enter into this crazy time of the year where we are inundated with a war among our culture to give the right gift. To purchase the right gift…
we need to understand that the true gift of the season is love…. and I think that love finds itself in three things. Listening, Learning, and Living.
the first is simple… listen. In order to truly understand the concept of love we have to figure out how to shut up! We HAVE to be able to be an ear to those around us… a shoulder to cry on for that matter… and a heart that longs to heal! We have to be interested in the people around us… and genuinely sincere about it. Love cannot be a one way street. We can’t just pour our hearts out over and over and never listen to someone else’s story. Its in these stories that God begins to challenge us with crazy-deep stuff. Its in these stories when we actually get toknow someone… what a crazy thought that is, to know someone. But to love… we must first figure out how to listen. [james 1:19]
second is tough… because its also not just enough to listen to someone and let it go in one ear and out the other… its also not just enough to know the stories and be able to retell them… Its soo much deeper than that… WE have to be able to learn from the other. This begins a path of trust. this begins a process of sharing. this begins the incredible stages of growth, maturity, and change. This is where depth starts… this is where life is begun.This is the start of knowing… and the start of seeing. You see… its isn’t enough to sit back and just hear… we have to be able to learn from those around us… which takes an incredible level of investment with the people around us. It takes us… stepping out in to faith… trusting others with our lives… and making ourselves vulnerable. It is at this point… the point of vulnerability that we begin to understand the power of love… but not yet fully comprehend it. In order for us to truly love those that are his… and appreciate the things of our creator… it takes learning. [Proverbs 1:5]
But the third is nearly impossible it seems… I’ll start with a phrase my professor has used a lot this semester with me… “Life is all about letting go of the idea that we need to make a living, and grasp on to the idea that we need to be making a life.” To live is the most important part of love. Its when we truly begin to fall in love… is only when we have moved to the part where we are able to be in full community with others! What I’m getting at is the concept that we are called to live fully with others… by loving them. When we live, and stop focusing on how to make a living we are truly able to get to the point in life. The reason. The purpose, and we are able to figure out who we are and who the people around us are. This is true life… Love and love to the fullest can only come when we surrender ourselves and understand that we must live with the people around us. it’s time to begin our life… its time that we start to actually live.[John 10:10]
So… I don’t know what this christmas looks like for you this year. I don’t know if you will be with your family a lot or not. I don’t know if your going away for the holiday’s… I don’t know if your going to have a lot of free time on your hands or busy like no other… I don’t know if you will be with friends, or laugh? I don’t know if you will look up and appreciate the scenery… or understand the story of the cross. I don’t know if God will have a hand in your daily walk this season… and I don’t know where in the world you will be…. But I do know that we all have the ability and capacity to love those around us this year… To be able to listen… to be able to learn… and hopefully get a taste of what it means to live fully with those around us.
I don’t know if you are going to actually process a bit about the incredible wonders of our creator… like this sunset… and I don’t know if you will take just a few seconds out of our so-called-busy-lives to truly love the things of our creator… both people and himself.
Jesus commands us to live fully with one another in love.
He wants us to live life as fully as possibly can.
So why not take a chance…. step out into faith this holiday season and LOVE those around us? I’m asking you to take a dive… try something for a chance… Listen a bit. Learn a lot. but most of all… Live Abundantly!
what do we have to loose?… ‘Tis The Season!