Day 7: It's Amazing What Can Happen If We Just Show Up.

This week I have heard a lot about just showing up, and just taking the time to listen quietly. My mom always told me that in high school and then when I went to college. "Don't skip things," she would say. "Show up and it will be something new and fun."

I have been struggling with this concept with Connor. He is so typical of a thirteen year old boy, he just wants to skate through right now. Anything extra is out of the question. Maddie is completely the opposite being five and all about trying everything. Trying to walk George all by herself, trying to "get back into dance," trying soccer in the spring. The list goes on of all the places she is showing up. 

Last night my Aunt Beth put on facebook that she is taking her fifteen minute break at work to read the Bible. She was asking about some things that she had read that were a little crazy, you know, Old Testament stuff.  I responded with some suggestions about a devotional guide or something like that, but then I realized I should have responded differently. I should have told her, (and Tom Doyle stop listening because this is where is gets all "Jesusy" on you,) that we read the Bible to yes learn the stories and become more knowledgeable, but we are really striving for a relationship with God. A personal relationship that no one else has. It isn't about what this person says, or what exactly this means to him or her. He is waiting for you and all you have to do is show up. So by taking that fifteen minutes to stop and read the Bible you are making yourself available, opening yourself up. Even if you read for fifteen minutes and then are like, "What the heck did I just read!" That's totally okay and totally normal....my normal anyway. I have to force myself to sit down, turn everything off, and just listen sometimes. 

Here are some of my favorite verses and could be something to look at when you are reading all the family trees and think it is never going to end!

1 Kings 19:12

Colossians 3:12-15

Galatians 5:13-14

1 John 4:19

Hebrews 12:1

I also love reading stories about the people. Esther is amazing to me, and Ruth. I guess I like reading about the women, and there are some pretty fantastic women, but some only get a snippet. That is where some extra reading comes in. 

Anyway, just show up and it is amazing what can happen!