*we intterupt normal transmissions of trivial nature to bring you this rather thoughtful message.*
[Note to non church going readers: regular mention made of God… (the one in the Bible)]
As I mentioned yesterday we are in the middle of our annual ‘chickfest’ at church. There are around 2000 delegates and crew wandering around the premises and 99 percent of them are chicks. The place smells great, sounds great and looks pretty all in the name of making them feel welcome! I love that about our church.
That’s not the point of course. The point is that there are a whole bunch of totally brilliant speakers here to minister to the masses and I am stoked to have had the opportunity to go and hear a lot of what they brought with them to say.
Something one of them said has caused me to do some thinking… That’s the way it ususally happens, I will hear all this brilliant stuff but one thing always sticks out or challenges me.
It’s this.
My God has a string on my heart. I am wholly in charge of how far I take the string away from him, or how close I get. I can look for all the world like the string is short but in reality can be a real long way away from God… You know it right?… your hands are raised well high in church… you are serving coffee and tea after the service… you are at every meeting and event… but you know inside that the string is long and all the flitting around is for the sake of everyone who sees you, not for you…
*ouch*
I realised how easy it is for me to make the string look short… Let’s face it, I work at church and am here ALL the time… but when I am distancing myself from God I find I am less available to sing… on a break… less inclined to go to services… less inclined to turn my heart and ear towards him and pray or put down my novel in favour of my Bible.
So, here’s me …I’ve been on a long string – for a long time… It is easy for me to do life alone – I am an independent, single minded, capable woman of the world!
But here’s the thing…
I actually miss having him (you know… God) around. I mean, not that he ever leaves but that awareness of him, and his pleasure and his favour fades. And it makes church and church life become a ritual not a pleasure.
So, the chickfest, inspite of it’s total girlyness (and we all know how I feel about that!! (See post from Oct 20) has been a real cool thing. It made me shorten the string and I am very happy about that.
*resume normal transmission of trivia*