Are you a someone?

Have you ever noticed that there’s always a something before we can be a someone?

Like the becoming what we want can only follow when the something has been recorded as done?

As if the bills being paid or the project list being completed or the pinterest-worthy party being thrown or the college degree sitting in a box is going to make us into the thing we think we need to be in order to be the person others wish they could be. 

As if we can re-write history and make the purpose of mankind to be something when really the real reason Jesus came is because we are not the everything and we cannot be the everyone so he had to do the ultimate everything. 

When dawn broke I broke into a swiftly moving pace to accomplish that which was suffocating me. So much to do with a clock that plagues me with stress as the hour hands keep jumping forward and stealing time. Then, in my hurriedness I felt a soft tug on my hurried soul…

Will you let go of the something so that I can be the everything? 

Will you pause your pace to allow me to re-play in your heart who I am and how I love you so?

Will you stop your hurried clock and let me re-set your ticking soul tuned to the rhythm of my pace today? 

Because the thing is that Jesus’ pace is different than ours and the hours translate as a mystery to each other. Hour-to-hour they give the illusion of sameness but his view of time feels a lot more like moving towards eternity than tackling the something that fades with mortality. 

I heard his soft whisper and I couldn't turn from it. Because he woes us with a soft calling to lean into his warm shepherd heart which embodies all we need to be filled with what we’re parched for. Sitting with my Bible resting on my weak and weary legs, I tilted my head back and breathed in the soothing sunshine that was bursting up over the golden horizon. 

And I remembered. 

This is why the something doesn't matter. Because the something will never give me the everything. It’s the everything, found in Jesus, that gives me everything I need to face the hours with a pace of strength, love and compassion. I don’t need the racing pace of do, I need the steady pace of be. Only then will I become what I need to be - only then will I be the truest version of my someone. 

Jesus says come to me for what you really need. Come and be. And then, you will be-come. Because the cross of Jesus is the only thing recorded as done that gives us the gift of being a someone. 

My SOS (and why we need each other...)

I sent out an SOS a week ago and another one or two (or was it three?) this week. Because I need help and I’m learning the art of community and leaning into community. It doesn’t come natural for most of us because we think we can do it all ourselves. 

But this week - I can’t. I can’t even pretend to. 

We’re moving and we are in over our heads with projects and packing and cleaning and I will DIE if I don’t have help - or at the very least I’ll go crazy.  

(Just look at the state of my kitchen. This is where I write to you from. What a mess, everywhere. Literally, my WHOLE HOUSE looks like this. Insane)

And you know what my people did? They showed up. 

They took my girls for an afternoon of playing and sleepovers, they brought meals, they came over to clean and install flooring and paint and all sort of not-so-fun-things because my people love me and I love them. I’ll never pretend to deserve the grace and love we have received but my gosh I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

We have our first house showing on Monday and our house ISN’T EVEN ON THE MARKET. But here’s the thing, God is big and when we pray for him to move, he moves. (And also, he blessed us with an amazing friend who is also our realtor who kicks butt and we trust beyond measure. That’s a huge bonus!). And when God moves he also prepares the team and army that we need to help us move into what he has for us. 

Right now he’s physically moving us to a different state. And without any great effort on our part, everything is falling into place. It’s magical. But most importantly, the people in our lives have been magical. 

So here’s my point - listen closely - if you don’t have the kind of people that respond to an SOS with willing, happy hearts and hands to be what you need, go be that for someone else. Because we all need that kind of open-handed-open-hearted community and it always begins with someone who stands up and says, I want that bad enough to be that.  

Cheers!

Chels

BIG NEWS!!! (and dancing in the rain...)

"What if I fall?"

Oh but my darling,

What if you fly?” 

― Erin Hanson

It was 6:00am when I finally gave in to my insuppressible desire to prance out my front door and dance like a fool in the rain. It was so glorious. (Why don’t we do that more? Dance in the rain?) As the wet drops landed on my bare skin and the fresh grass clippings stuck to my naked feet, I felt God say to me,

This is a season to dance in the rain dear child. Enjoy. Let go of what you cling to. Be okay with getting messy and just enjoy what I am doing. Lay underneath my best plan and be filled with JOY just as you are freely basking in the joy of freely dancing in the rain right now. 

Just as I finished tip-toeing back into our house I saw my oldest turn the corner wiping her sleepy eyes and finishing a yawn. I listened to her recount the details of the dream she had the night before and when I couldn’t hold it in anymore I squealed with excitement while asking her to come and do something CRAZY with me. I love her adventurous spirit. She didn't even hesitate for a beat, and out the front door we went to dance in the pouring rain together. We laughed so hard and just enjoyed the moment as if it was the only moment that mattered. 

When the chill from the brisk morning air set in we danced inside and sat on the couch giggling together. Then leaning over, I told her what God wanted me to share with her… 

Jesus did crazy things when he was on this earth. Heck, God still does the craziest things in his kids lives all the time. Things that look crazy to the world. Dancing in the rain in our pajamas in the early morning hours probably seemed a little crazy to our neighbors as they watched from their dry, warm house, but it also felt freeing and joy-filled and soul satisfying to us. It was so worth it! I want us to live like that sweet baby girl. Willing to do the crazy things that Jesus calls us to. To go to places and talk to people and love and serve and open our home to the wildest things because Jesus himself lived that way. What an adventure life is meant to me! 

And thats when I saw it click for her. 

She understood that our family is going on an adventure. And it will be worth it no mater how hard it is to leave behind what we've know and loved. 

So, here's the BIG NEWS.....

We are selling our house, picking up our life and moving to South Dakota.

Because Jesus said, GO. 

And we said, YES, and THANK YOU. 

So here we go. Onto new adventures together. A new career opportunity for my husband means a new adventure for our whole family. And we are in awe of God’s crazy ways of working it all out. He does that, you know? When he calls us, he works it all out. Every detail. Every need. Just met. Because he is God. It's never seamless, it's messy and it takes work but it's still so perfect when God is in the driver seat. 

If I teach my kids anything about Jesus I want it to be that he is love and love is adventure and it is freedom and it is beauty and it is exciting and it is dancing in the rain because God’s love never takes us where we shouldn't be. It is a safe love that allows us to embrace new adventures while being tucked under his wing.

Beginning your day with *life*

Yeah, so, when anxiety spins your stomach in circles at the break of dawn and your mind races like the speed of the Triple Crown winner and the world feels all upside down and right side up at the same time - that’s when you know you need it most. 

To sit. 

To breathe. 

To talk to Jesus and listen to Jesus. 

Because the crazier this wild, exciting world gets the more still our wild, anxious hearts need to be. 

There’s nothing but good that comes from a quiet time of listening. Soaking in breath from the God-breathed Word. Our life is given new life when we choose the life-blood that pumps through us in the form of spirit pumping truth. 

Intravenous. That’s how Jesus gives life - right at the source where we need it most. 

It was Martin Luther King Jr. that said it best…”I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”

So when your morning is already going 60mph and your head and your heart need something that you just aren’t getting from all the getting around in life - sit still. Allow yourself to be filled by the very presence of the God who gave you life. 

Go ahead, grab your liquid grace poured into your coffee mug all steamy and savor your warm caffeine while savoring the Words of the Holy Bible. 

Listen to his still voice. 

Sit in the cocoon of His grace filled presence. 

Breathe in Jesus and exhale the world so you can make room for what really fuels you for the day.