Showing up is harder to do than it sounds. I’m supposed to show up at work everyday at 8:00am. I rarely do. I’ve developed a system of arriving there “around” 8:00am. I say “arriving” intentionally because I can’t say with any amount of conviction that I ever really fully show up there. I wish I did. This morning I was running dangerously close to arriving on time. I kept getting closer and closer to work and looking at the clock a little surprised by the whole affair. As I should have expected, a very long, very slow moving freight train rolled through the valley right at 7:54. I sat and watched the minutes click by with each clickety-clack of the train wheels. Oh well.
I’m so often present in various situations in my life but not fully engaged. You know, like when the voice of every person conversing with you sounds like the adults in Charlie Brown movies. Or when you’re smiling and nodding at someone in a conversation but in your head you’re planning your grocery list. Or, when you’re leading worship in church and your heart just isn’t there that day. Our lives are so scheduled and practiced, we can almost get by without ever actually being where we are.
As a result of a recent prayer guide I read, I’ve been wondering what would happen if everyone who is a follower of Jesus decided to show up in their relationship with Christ. Frankly, I wonder what would happen if I could show up in my relationship with Christ most days. What if I had an acute awareness of His presence with me all the time and I was actively engaged with the Holy Spirit? I’ve decided to “modify” a section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (3:16-21) and pray it everyday from now until Easter to remind myself to be fully present in life. If he could pray it for the Ephesians, I can pray it for myself:
“I pray that according to the riches of your glory, you may grant that I may be strengthened in my inner being with power through your Spirit, and that you may dwell in my heart through faith as I am being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that I may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know your love that surpasses all knowledge, so that I may be filled with all the fullness of God. To you who by the power at work within me is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all I can ask or imagine, to you be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”
I’ve been alive for, well, all my life. Some of those days I’ve even shown up and lived. I’m setting a goal to show up a little more often. If nothing else, at least be present in the present. I’d like to be ready to recognize what God is doing around me and be there to participate.
3 Comments
February 25, 2007 at 3:17 pm
hey, thanks for checking out my blog; how’d you find it? i’ve linked yours as well, hope that’s ok. it amazes me to see how the body of Christ grows and adapts with time: i’m encouraged to see so many Christians encouraging each other and sharing their faith victories and struggles through their blogs. thanks also for this last post of yours, i often feel that way while i’m worshipping…i’m singing praise words to God, the laundry list of things to do occupies the space where my praise should be…not much of a praise at all!
February 25, 2007 at 6:06 pm
your post on “cheap coffee and apologetic responsibility” caught my eye as i was perusing a few posts in topics i have tagged. thanks for sharing your journey!
February 26, 2007 at 11:42 am
Nice blog. Christ has called us to have life and have it abundantly. We need to focus on taking Him up on His offer.