I have recently been redefining my view on relationships. And I’m not talking about lovers and dating and cheesy romance, but the everyday relationships that are an intrinsic part of every facet of our lives. I have been so fortunate to meet and develop relationships with some truly amazing people, especially in the past couple years since I started college. The hard part is keeping up with them all. The more experiences I have, trips I go on, things I become involved with means the more relationships I have to balance.
The amazing thing about relationships is that they are all important. God puts every single person in our life for a reason. It may be a small snippet of some one’s story or a single word of wisdom or just a great shared experience that makes it all worth it. And sometimes it’s the relationships that start off slow that end up to be some of the most intimate and important ones you will ever have.
It comes to the point where you have to decide how much to invest in each relationship because it would be impossible to keep up with them all. But it is amazing to realize how much I have learned and how much I have been affected by the short conversations with strangers or a few words from a friend I haven’t seen in years. This makes me not only realize the value of what I can learn from every relationship but also the effect I have through every relationship. And I am realizing how important it is to invest into relationships that I value most.
With that said, I am making a commitment this year to relationships. I want to hear about my friends’ lives and genuinely listen and genuinely care. And hopefully, it will be a mutually beneficial experience. Paul tells the Romans in Romans 1:12, “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.”I want to support people in their walks with God and lives, in general. And through investing in these relationships, I hope that I can grow and feel supported. God made us to be social people – we’re not meant to make this journey on our own.
So, don’t be surprised if I hit you up for a coffee date…and don’t be afraid to hit me up for one, too.
I mentioned in a past blog post about how I read a few different books before going to Australia that were themed to the effect of making your life a story worth hearing. With the impending release of Needtobreathe’s new album on September 20 (I’ve already preordered it, don’t even worry about it), I rekindled my romance with the song that was debuted to me at Needtobreathe’s show at Spring Arbor University last Spring (you know, the night I met the love of my life, lead singer Bear Rinehart). I took some time to really listen to the lyrics, and I think you should, too. Here it is, another masterpiece from the band that speaks to my heart.
Days; they force you back under those covers, lazy mornings; they multiply,
Glory's waiting outside your windows. Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Tongues are violent, personal and focused, tough to be with your steady mind,
Hearts are stronger after broken. Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
All these victims stand in line for, crumbs that fall from the table just enough to get by,
all the while your invitation.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Take from vandals all you want now, please don't trade it in for life,
replaced your feeble with the fable.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
All these victims stand in line for, crumbs that fall from the table just enough to get by,
all the while your invitation.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Sing like we used to, dance when you want to, taste for the breakthrough open wide.
All these victims stand in line for, crumbs that fall from the table just enough to get by,
all the while your invitation.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.
Come on, sing like we used to, and dance like you want to.
Come on darlin' open your eyes. I wanna sing like we used to. I wanna dance like we want to.
Come on darlin' open up your eyes.
This is basically what I get from this song – wake up, stupid! There is an amazing life out there waiting for you to live it. Don’t be lazy and miss it! Don’t live your life just enough to get by. Glory’s waiting outside your windows! Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes!I’ve never been a fan of mediocrity. I really just don’t think there’s any reason for it. Why would I live a boring, safe, typical American life when there is so much more out there!
Everyone has their passions. I happen to have a lot of them. In fact, I have to come to the conclusion that my true passion is for being passionate. Without passion, life is just…mediocre. I fall completely in love with things very easily, and when I do so, I commit my entire heart and soul. A few general categories of my greatest passions include traveling, missions, music, and most importantly, the big man upstairs. Of course, God pretty much dictates all the other passions, so He very well could have plans for me that don’t involve any of these things, and I will have to be okay with that. However, I firmly believe that God gives us our passions for a reason. And he equips us with the talents, skills, and opportunities necessary to take advantage of these passions.
It would be pretty easy for me to graduate college in a year and a half or so, get a job working at a very developed national or international nonprofit organization, and make a decent amount of money sitting at a desk for 40 hours a week doing boring work for a great organization. I would be financially secure, comfortable, safe, and relatively satisfied knowing that I was facilitating a nonprofit to do important things for the community and/or world. I also could work full-time all of next summer at my current job or elsewhere to save money so that I will have a buffer when I graduate to find a place to live, start paying off loans, buy myself something nice, etc. These things would be “easy.” And they would make life pretty “easy.” But I wouldn’t be satisfied. And I don’t think God would be, either. Because I wouldn’t be passionate about my life. And if I’m not passionate about what I’m doing, I can’t commit all of my heart and soul. And I want a life that I commit my heart and soul to.
I have mentioned this in a previous blog post, and I am going to mention it again, because this is such a convicting point (as usual) from Francis Chan. Crazy Love, people…read it! "We say things like, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,’ and ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart.’ Then we live and plan like we don’t believe God even exists. We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn’t come through. But true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His promises."I do believe that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I want to put every hope in God’s fidelity to His promises. That’s why I want to travel, even though I don’t have money. That’s why I want to do full-time ministry, even though it will never make me much money. That’s why I want to keep playing music, even though all I can do is sing and fake guitar and I know nothing about theory. That’s why I want to commit my life, career, destiny, all of me to God’s purpose, even though I have no idea where that’s going to take me.
Spending my summer in Australia was an amazing experience for far more reasons than I could ever explain, but it’s not just a great memory. It gave me a small glimpse of what this world has to offer. It showed me how big this world is and at the same time, how small it is. It gave me the itch to travel and see the world and do it for God, and it proved to me that I can.
I want to conquer another continent next summer. Maybe that’s financially irresponsible. Maybe I should work. I want to do a Discipleship Training School with YWAM after I graduate. Maybe that’s not practical. Maybe I should find a job first. I have a whole lot of student loans haunting my future. Maybe I should concern myself with paying those back...
It will all happen in due time. I have the rest of my life to work, so I’ve been told. I’m sick of sitting around being jealous of other people that have amazing opportunities to travel the world, do crazy awesome things…why not just be one of those people? Why not just trust that God has a plan for my life that is way more than mediocrity? Why not live a life that I’m passionate about?When I’m old and shriveled and giving my grandchildren this same lecture, I want to be able to tell them stories that are book worthy…maybe even movie worthy. Definitely song worthy. If my story isn’t worth hearing, then I haven’t done my job on this earth. God won’t get any glory from a story that puts people to sleep.
So the moral of the story is…Wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes!
