I’m the polyester/spandex type (machine wash warm…tumble dry low…but stretchy). I love to watch the sunset from our lake house but hate to wash the windows to make my view clearer. I’ll curl up on the couch with grandma’s afghan and watch Hallmark movies with you. I love church, coffee and dark chocolate (the last two probably a bit too much). My family and God are at the center of my heart and my life. Definitely dogs over cats (sorry cat lovers). My pet peeve is cold French fries from the drive-thru and not finding out until your three blocks down the road. I believe in the power of prayer although I know sometimes the answer is “Not now.” (Rats!). I’ve been known to spend too much time worrying about things I have no control over. I regret I haven’t pointed to Jesus enough; but God is good…all the time, forgiving and loving. Someday I will hear those six words, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
Why would God promote you to be a lighthouse somewhere else if you’re not being a candle where you’re at now?
I live in a hollow in Tennessee. My view from the hollow is much smaller than the view from the top of the hill. I can’t see any neighboring homes from my hollow but when I get to the top of the driveway there is a whole subdivision around me. What is your vision? Do you see the needs of your neighbors around you or are you hibernating in the hollow like me? It’s so easy for me to find excuses to not leave the hollow. The excuses are many; and they come so easily. I’m too……(fill in the blank) tired, busy, sick. It’s too……(fill in the blank) hot, cold, rainy. Or how about when we use someone else as our scapegoat…I’d love to but….(fill in the blank) my husband, my son, my mother…
The world is full of Dooms Day Preppers. Those that are storing away for the end of the world. I never quite got that concept. Jesus is coming back for me in the rapture…I’m not gonna take anything with me and it clearly says in the Bible not to store up treasures in this world where moths and vermin will destroy and thieves break in and steal. So Dooms Day Prepping??….that’s just a grocery list I’m gonna stay away from. I’m just sayin’…you can build your bunker as deep as you want…fill it with food and provisions. No matter how strong you make it when Jesus comes back you won’t be able to hide. There’s no “preparation” for Christ’s return expect to be right with Him when he comes back.
Until then…you need to get out of your hollow. Find someone who needs your arms. Find someone who needs a kind word of encouragement. Find someone who needs you. You have skills and talents specifically given to you by God to use. Don’t hide them away. Don’t expect someone to come to you and drag you out of the hollow up to the top of the hill. God is waiting for you to get up out of that chair and get involved; and don’t give me your excuses (I hate getting out my “mom” voice). Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharoah, and Sarah was 90 when she became pregnant with Isaac.
God put an acquaintance from a previous church back in my path about 6 years ago. Ursula and her husband Ron lived in the subdivision that I used to jog through in the morning (it was actually closer to a run, walk, crawl) and one day they invited me over for coffee after my morning torture session. That encounter turned into a weekly visit for coffee with her. Since that renewing of our friendship God has brought her husband and my mother home to Him. God knew the future only He could see and put us both in the each other’s gap. Ursula is a surrogate mom, a dear friend, a lover of the earth and advocate for the elderly. She has taught me, laughed with me and cried with me and our friendship has blossomed over the years. I’m just saying….be open to say “yes” to the cup of coffee when someone asks you. God wants to bless you.
Living To Hear Six means you accept a call to servant leadership. You walk out of the hollow and find someone else with skin on them and be Jesus to them. Others need you and you need others. God designed us this way. Use your talents. God didn’t give them to you to hide them under a bushel basket. Ursula would say, “There are elderly who need your love. They are lonely. Go find someone and spend time with them.”
