What is it For You?

Mondays are my favorite days.

Photo Credit: Marie Coleman, Creative Commons cc license

Dropping Morgan off at an academy, I pull away from the curb and head to a nearby public library. Two stories of a book lover’s dream are encased in floor-to-ceiling glass windows. World-origin coffee beans bulge in burlap bags on the floor beside the coffee shop’s entrance, and just entering the whirring room makes me inhale and smile.

With a medium-sized Burundi dark roast coffee and my bag of notebooks, pens, and notes, I get to study for hours. These last few weeks, in between writing sessions, I have been flipping through Old Testament and New Testament Bible pages, combing through commentaries, and pulling out related resources. I have eight speaking/teaching sessions coming up, and preparing for them, teaching them, and praying for those events fill me with joyful delight. Digging deep into God’s word and looking to illustrate His truths in relevant, exciting, and applicable ways fills me with excitement, and I discover that I’m the one who is learning these truths anew each time. Our Artist God’s words are like that, coiling up active and vibrant at every mention.

Packing up my journal, Bible, notes, and papers partway through the morning, I pause to pick up Morgan on her study hall. We return to the library, find a quiet table and study again, lapsing into silence as we both scrape pen against lined paper. An hour later, she is back in class, and I’m alone again on a rickety table, turning pages, grabbing my pen, and asking God for wisdom as I sink deep into study.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure you have things that make you come alive. What passions, dreams, or life-goals simmer beneath your day-to-day life? God sculpted and made you unique, placing skills, talents, and his giftings inside you. You were made on purpose, and the world needs you. When and where can you slip away to hone those? What stirs inside you?

And worship needn’t always look like piano, drums, and vocalists — although I love those times too. Worship can look like pen-smudged hands whipping fast across a page, grinning maniacally at God’s goodness; or a horticulturist’s muddy knees as she lifts weary eyes up to her Artist God in thanks; and a daddy’s third trip into a plaintive toddler’s bedroom, fifteen minutes past bedtime. Worship looks like a caregiver’s gentle patience; your work on repeated loads of laundry; your scrambling to fix a nutritious supper at five-thirty pm; or sleepy prayers in the dark of night. Worship can be daring to write out that story God has been whispering to you to write; and worship can be taking your turn in infant nursery on an early Daylight Saving’s Sunday.

Take a deep breath. Ask God to confirm what’s bubbling up inside you even now, and then step out. I promise it’ll bring a rush of joy.

Hi! As my Speaking Bureau and I plan this next 2016-2017 year of speaking and teaching engagements, please let me know if I can save a date for you and your church, MOPS group, women’s event, retreat, conference, or camp. I love getting to know women, and would love to rekindle a flame in your walk with God, in your marriage and family, and in your sphere of influence. Check availability by emailing douganemail@gmail.com, or peek through my speaking topics and testimonials here.