Duck Face

I would say it is safe to say that in today’s society with plastic surgery and Botox readily available to anyone who wants it, what looks like a duck may not be a duck. Personally I am terrible at making the duck face but with a little editing software or the right filter who would ever know? We are definitely a generation that prides itself on life hacks that help us cover up our eye sores and make our lives look better. We use fake rocks in our yards to cover up water pipes, drawers and garages to hide all of our junk and decorative wraps to go around our garbage cans so even our trash looks pretty.

What happens when that mentality starts creeping into the church? When we turn the lights down low to create an emotional response and it provides a mask to every tear shed. When we put professional signs up all over directing people to each ministry we have to offer. When Easter Sunday rolls around and we clean up our church buildings, make sure the grounds are freshly mulched and remind our volunteers to be on their best greeting behavior. When we have a woman’s conference and we try to hide our ordinary garbage cans by wrapping them in pink flowery paper. When we meet in a theater, elementary school or warehouse and we try to make it look more like a church building by hiding everything behind tall black curtains. I mean what would happen if the people saw the popcorn or graffiti as they came through the doors. I bet they would never come back. And I know they would be way too distracted to ever meet God in there. Unless…

Unless we as a church really took a look at what God is calling us to. He came to pull us out of hiding and into a marvelous light. To uncover our trash cans and reveal how truly messed up we are. So what if we become so captivated by what He is doing in our lives, how He is restoring us as we let Him tear down our curtains that we shout all the more? We hear His call to invite those around us in. We stop needing sign boards to direct newcomers because the people of God are in rhythm with the beat of His heart. We take others by the hand and show them the way. If we as a church were so beautiful in our display of His love and reconciliation that when we open wide the doors no one even noticed the building. They had no idea they even entered one because inside and outside the church was the same. What if we stopped our pretending and engaged the people around us and showed them even our trash isn't pretty? What if we took off the filters and masks and displayed what God is doing in our lives despite all of the garbage?  Let us not be like the fake rocks in our yards. Let's be the people that invite God to hack into our lives and reveal the inward workings of our hearts and not be surprised when what looks like a duck ends up not being a duck.

Passionate Fire

I often hate that I am passionate. It causes me to wrestle and my soul burns like a fire that is trying to escape a fireplace. It often feels like the glass doors are shut tight just trying to keep me contained and I desperately want to be let out so I can spread and grow. I find that I have to apologize at times because my passion overwhelms me and I forget not everyone feels the way that I do.

It is impossible to fully comprehend what drives another person because we all have different backgrounds and experiences that have brought us to where we are. We unsuccessfully try to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes after filtering it through our own boxes of values, morals and reasoning based on what motivates us. We try to understand another person’s motives, but if ours are skewed then we assume the same about someone else’s.

We must consider another’s point of view from a place we have never been and that is impossible. I learned this a few years ago when I tried over an over to explain my passion to someone and they failed to understand where I was coming from. I was crushed by it because I thought people knew what drove me. But every time I tried to express how I was feeling it went through the filter of their scope and intentions. Each conversation left me feeling worse because I was completely misunderstood.

My passions and desires were not my own. I was more than my performance and more than the opinions of my peers. I was not interested in making a name for myself but making a difference. I wanted my life to bring value and encouragement to someone else and be given a chance to do more of that. I learned that it is hard to express outward focused passions and desires to an inward focused humanity. I desperately wanted my dedication and service to simply encourage these same values in others, but these conversations were filtered through pride and fear.

So how do you respond when someone tells you that maybe your mission means too much to you? What happens when someone sees your act of service as an act of self-promotion? What happens when you sacrifice yourself to protect and serve someone else and you are accused of self-protection? What happens when your motives are misinterpreted through someone else’s filter?

You must remember who you are and whose you are. You must continue to sacrifice even when accused. You must remember to forgive and reconcile even when people don’t deserve it. You must continue to protect people even when they don’t fight for you. You must remember to die to serve even when people hurt you. You must continue to fulfill the mission that God has for you, even when no understands your motivation is deeper than yourself. You must remember to consider another’s point of view from a place you have never been, even when it feels impossible. And you must never lose your passion and desire, even when someone tries to shut the doors to your fire so they can keep you contained. You must remember to spread and grow because the mission means “too much to you” for a reason.