A hundred swirling thoughts and ideas rampage through my mind. Emerging adults. Kid's ministry. Seminary. Classes. Workouts. Field trips. Pennyslvania. Home. Calling. Goodbyes. Transition. New Start. Old life. Job. Family. God. Some days, I can think so clearly. Every topic waits its turn to be mulled over, prayed through, and concluded. It's like to those movies where the ninjas come at the hero one at a time giving him the time to take each one down in some dastardly super-spy action. But sometimes, instead of following Hollywood's timing, life hits with a little more reality and all the ninjas come at you all at once.
I sit down to pray but my prayers can't stay on focus. It's like one prayer reminds me of another one and then I remember I need to hit the grocery store and fill up the car with gas before heading to PA on Friday morning and I can't go tomorrow because I have to work and Luke has small group and I need to make sure that my subs for work are going to be there and then ... oh shoot, gotta get the lesson ready for Thursday night and what's a good craft to go with Joseph so I should probably look that up on Pinterest but WAIT what am I going to serve for dinner to the family and finish the laundry so I can start packing for our trip...
Please tell me you've been there and I'm not the only mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, student, employee, person who goes through these days? I know that I'm not but sometimes just knowing that someone else has the same experience can help.
And then, in the middle of all that, it happens. Your phone makes its most favorite noise and you look down and see a text, from a friend, just saying, "Hey, I could really use some time with you." For a moment, you think, "There's no possible way." But in nanoseconds the next thought is, "No, this is exactly what I need."
We've had a lot of interesting discussions in our home lately because of classes we are both taking that basically asks the question, "How important is 'the church', as in the members of the body of Christ a.k.a. people, in our own Christianity?" Luke's class has him looking at an international culture in particular that purposely tries not to "look" Christian because they feel it makes it harder for them to "witness" to others in their family/community, so they don't participate in church as we know it. I've been studying the current youth/college culture and the resistance they are exhibiting to the traditional church structure while at the same time growing in their desire to connect more with the past through liturgy and history. So where exactly does the church play its role? We are "members of one body" thus we quite literally NEED each other and it can't just be about "going" to a church building or acting in a certain way. It is about people, flesh and blood broken people, in community, in relationship, sharing one another's burdens, rejoicing in each other's joys and yes, getting frustrated with each other, forgiving each other, and loving each other in spite of it all.
So when my text lit up with an invitation to be with a person, a fellow believer and a sister in the faith, my perspective suddenly changed. Sure all the chores and assignments and swirling thoughts were all there, but one thing shut them all down. Community. Friendship. Christ. My prayers, which I couldn't formulate with my mind, were heard from my heart and God answered with Himself, quite literally. Once again I remind myself, the bags will get packed, the food will get cooked, the assignments will get done and even if I don't get every workout in this week, life will go on and life will be best when I am with Him.
And with one karate chop (super-spy style), the ninjas are silenced and I walk away unscathed...to live another day. I even found time to blog. :)
Post Script - As I re-read this I realized I left something out... if you are trying to go at this whole life thing alone, keeping your problems to yourself and facing them on your own, may I suggest that there is a better way? God himself said, "It is not good for man to be alone." He created the church, the people who make up His body on earth, to be a unit, not a separate identity. Find some messy broken people who have given themselves to a loving holy God and throw yourself in the mix. Bind yourself to friends and fellow warriors in the community of faith and stop trying to go at it alone. There's a better way. The end.
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