A Silent Invitation

It sits on an antique checker table owned by my great aunt beside my comfy faux leather recliner.  Some days it is on the bottom of a stack forgotten by other books I'm reading.  Too many times it goes unopened as my cell phone houses my daily devotions and one year bible reading plan. Yet, when all is tidy, books put in their proper place, it clearly sits there with a silent invitation.  Come here, open me.  Let me speak love, wisdom, and truth into your day.  Let me inspire, motivate, give you hope and a future.  

The bible beckons all of us.  No matter the day, the circumstances, the weather. . .a bible is that silent invitation that serves to entice us into a relational world with our Father.  I've found God has a tendency to speak loudest in the silence. . .to be doing the most work in the gaps.  He has this way of directing what I need to hear with what I read when I flip open to see how He will speak to me just because. It's a bible roulette, so to speak.  Tell me I'm not the only one who plays this way!

We are all waiting for that next invitation to be included, to celebrate, to interact with friends or family, to be engaged with a community for a common purpose.  But God.  His invitation is a silent one.  It comes in the form of His book, the bible.  It is just waiting to speak to you whether it is in the middle of your mess and chaos, or in the center of jubilant times where all is well. He is there.

I'm a word girl.  I might not be the word girl who knows bible verses verbatim, but I am the girl who knows where to go to find the words I need.  Today I'm vocalizing the silent invitation.  I'm inviting you to crack your bible open and see what He speaks into your heart and soul.  It might just change you forever for good, but it starts with an invitation.  Consider yourself invited!

Servant-Heart

Sometimes it is in the serving that we are served our largest portion.  Sometimes it's not so much about the serving, but the thought, care, consideration, and prayer that leads up to the act of service that matters most. It is in our caring for and serving others that we use our unique gifts and strengths.  It is a servant heart that knows in order to really live, we must be willing to give.  As long as there is breath to breathe, there is life to live which means there is more to give--of ourselves, our resources, our time, our treasures.  In order to really live, we must be willing to give.

There is no fancy formula.  Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.--1 Corinthians 15:58

It is in the giving of ourselves that we are transformed into Jesus' hands and feet.  It might be our service that soothes and softens hearts. One simple act may open a blind eye to see their value and worth.  We just might become a part of a monumental shift in someone's thinking, in their way of doing life. We might have contributed to adding another disciple to this broken, bleak, weary world.  And to think: it all started with a simple servant heart.

My brothers and sisters, give to live!

Your Invitation Matters

I watched my tween expand her wings some this week.  I've encouraged her to go to the youth group at church for awhile now, but I don't push it.  If I've learned anything in these 40 years it's relationship over religion.  More than anything I want my kids to develop their own personal relationship with God.  That won't happen better or faster if I constantly force religious type activities.  Youth group falls under that list.

But as God would have it, a few weeks ago I dropped off our Mom Group book to a mom who has recently moved to the area and had baby #7.  We enjoyed a visit while I was there and found out our girls do somewhat know each other at their public school.  This particular mom talked about youth group and her daughter's involvement, she encouraged me to tell my daughter to try it. So of course I brought that up when I tucked her in that night.  She looked skeptically at me.  Now at least she knew someone, I suggested--she didn't agree or disagree.  As is my nature on this topic, I didn't push.

After some minor friend hurt at school this week, she told me she thought maybe she should try out that youth group thing.  I smiled and said I'd look into it so I made arrangements that she could attend.  As luck would have it, the one girl she knew happened to go home sick the day before the meeting.  She asked me if I might text her mom to see how she was feeling. . .and if she was going to youth group.  I didn't have a chance between pickups and volleyball.  So as the hour approached she nervously wavered whether or not she would go.  Ultimately she did.

God met her there.  She found a new community of peers with a similar belief system where she felt she belonged.  The drama that had dragged her down earlier in the week was forgotten as she excitedly recounted what they had learned and talked about.  She was bursting with energy and enthusiasm and I couldn't help but smile and feel my heart grow with appreciation for something that I've prayed about for a long time now.  At twelve, my daughter is on the cusp of discovering who Jesus is to her.  It is here that the foundation we've laid can deepen because of her own beliefs about who her God is.  That is both exciting and terrifying to me!

She is growing up.  The day after the meeting she accepted the girl's apology who had hurt her feelings. She forgave her.  She marked her calendar for the next youth group date.  And all I did was watch from the sidelines.  She was figuring the hard stuff out on her own.

I realized it doesn't matter if you're 5, 12, 20, or 40. . .an invitation from someone you know to do some new thing or go to a new place is softened when it starts with an invite. My tween tried something new because just the thought of a familiar face comforted and intrigued her.  She will go back because the group encouraged and asked her to.  Invitations are always nice to receive and one never knows what treasures will result from accepting the invite.  Who might you offer an invitation to today?