Go Get Your Sister

We had an ice week about a month ago where we were stuck at home, schools were closed, and it was really too icy to even venture outside to play.  So there we were all at home...together.  It started off pretty well, and I have to say that I love that my children are getting more independent in keeping entertained.  One thing that I did start to notice though was something that moms have dealt with since the beginning of time.

Me: "Go get your sister and tell her it's time to get ready to eat."

Son: (From the couch yelling upstairs) "Wash your hands, and get ready to eat!"

Me: (in the kitchen rolling my eyes as I could have yelled on my own) "No GO to your sister and tell her to get ready to eat."

This is nothing new.  I remember doing this as a kid, and I am pretty sure my parents did it to their parents.  In fact, I am pretty sure it has been going on since Bible times.  

The word "Go" is used so many times in the Bible.

*GO, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites GO out of his country. - Exodus 6:11 (NIV)

*GO!  I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. - Luke 10:3 (NIV)

*But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or turn back.  Where you GO I will GO..." 

- Ruth 1:16 (NIV)

*Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "GO and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." 

- Luke 22:8 (NIV)

*"Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." - Matthew 28:19 (NIV)

The last one hit my core when I was reading the book Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker.  (A great read, but be ready to be changed!)  How easy it is to just think "make disciples" and leave out the "go," just as my children do when I tell them to "Go and tell..."  Go requires action, requires sacrifice, requires commitment.  As frustrated as I got that day, it made me step back and think how frustrated God must be at me!  

"Go and get your sister/brother...

-and invite her/him to church.

-and bring her/him a meal.

-and invite her/him to a bible study.

-and have coffee just to talk.

-and give her/him a hug.

-and tell her/him about Me!

As uncomfortable or inconvenient these may be what about this:

"Go and get your sister/brother...

-and give them them grocery money instead of getting my nails done.

-and hold their hand and look in their eyes as they tell you their story even though you don't know them and you don't know how long it has been since they showered/washed their hands.

-and visit them in the hospital,

-and tell them that you love them and God loves them even when they have messed up and maybe even hurt you in the process.

-and help them out by bringing food to their apartment complex even if it means missing the big game on tv.

How often am I so comfortable to just sit on my computer and invite everyone to come to my church and church events?  I would so rather do that than actually face to face ask them (My introvert is showing!)  Isn't it so much easier to just give to a mission rather than GO and do one?  (Not that giving to missions is bad - both sides are definitely needed).  But just telling and giving aren't enough.  I am so much more likely to follow up on an invitation of someone's of I have been personally invited instead of "group" invited.  I am much more likely to attend an church or event with someone that I see "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk."

We cannot help people understand the love of Jesus unless we GO show the love of Jesus through our actions.  

"As the body without the spirit is Dead, so faith without deeds is dead." - James 2:26

How many times has God told me to GO and get my sister or brother and do something?  How many times have I just yelled from the couch half-hearted because I was either too lazy to get up or was afraid to get off the comfort of the couch into a zone where I many not be so comfortable?  How many times have a flat out ignored him?  

All I can say is thank goodness for grace and second chances!

I am now making an effort to hear those GO calls and actually get my rear off the comfy couch and do something.  It's not always going to be easy and it definitely won't always be comfortable, but I have a feeling that I will come out ok in the end. :)

Go and get your sister!

I don't want to be awesome #FortheLove

Awesome.  It's become a thing in our culture.  If you google just the word awesome, tons of images and memes pop up, some funny and some quite "interesting" to put it nicely.

Being "awesome" is a running joke in my house as my husband likes to claim it's pretty much woven into his DNA.  My son even has a shirt that just says #awesome, and we searched for one for my husband b/c my son only felt it was appropriate. (We didn't find one though.  His awesomeness will just have to radiate from his inner being instead of from words on his shirt).

Just recently though I received the motivation to stop being "awesome."

As I have posted previously, I was chosen to be on the launch time for Jen Hatmaker's new book, For the Love, which will be released in August.  I have already devoured the book that was sent to me.  I have laughed, been humbled and inspired, and even learned some new recipes!  For those of you who cry, you will probably cry too.  I am just not a crier.

In her first chapter in the book Jen talks about the pressure we put on ourselves to be everything to everyone and be great at everything.   I don't know about you, but this goes straight to my core.  I know that I feel pressure from every which way of my life to volunteer, make things, attend, support, etc.  I feel the need to do all things things asked from others (and from myself), but why?  If I am going to be honest here, sometimes it's because I want others to think that I can do it all, that I am talented, that I have it all together.  In reality, piling up these expectations does the opposite.  I am unfocused, my house turns into a bigger disaster area than it already is (which I am pretty sure is just a physical representation of how my brain looks), and I don't do anything well.  My husband and I have talked many times about when one of use is overstretched about how we feel that we are getting nowhere.  We are doing a bunch of "things" but we feel like we are failing at all of them.

In her book, Jen says, "We need to quit trying to be awesome and instead be wise."

Wise.

When I think of wise, I think of people who are experienced in years, who have been there and done that.  I think of certain long time members in our church, who I look up to.  When I think of them, I think of people who are God-focused.  They have their channels that they are plugged into and passionate about, and they don't have a problem saying no to those things that they know are for other people's gifts.

In another study that I am doing, The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst, she says, "we have to know that God is especially fond of filling the empty spaces.  God is a master at providing just the right thing at just the right timing."

Hello!  Wake up call!!!  I am not meant to be everything to everyone.  I am not meant to fill every volunteer spot.  I don't have to do everything at my house.  I don't even have to be everything to my children.  In doing that I am saying, "God I got this, I don't need to trust you to fill those empty spaces."  Yikes.

How about I just be wise, and instead let God be awesome?

Isn't that the way it is supposed to be?  Shouldn't God be the awesome one, and we can just give Him the glory?

Lesson learned.  Take stock of my commitments, be wise about what I am choosing, stop getting in the way of other people trying to use their gifts, and let God be awesome.