To Share is Simply To Show Up... - A Five Minute Friday Post

I made it to the party again last night and oh my goodness if we didn't have some visitors and old timey partiers pop in and say hey! (By old timey I do not mean old... I mean... writers who used to join in on a regular basis back in the olden days of 2011 and 2012!)  This tribe... it grows and shifts and changes but it offers the same thing to all who gather: encouragement, support, love, sister- (and brother-) hood... recipes, prayers, laughter, grieve, ... this tribe is all in and goes all out as they tap on keys and type out on offering, all in five(ish) minutes flat!

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is: SHARE

{GO}

I have been teetering on a very thin line lately, because growing a family (church) is hard work sometimes. Well not necessarily hard work - it's good work... but it can take a lot of pouring out in ways that are often draining and unseen --especially if you are not operating out of your true identity. Then, it is just exhausting.

I found over the past few weeks that I was trying to DO more than I was letting myself BE and here is what the Lord reminded me of a few days ago:

I am called to be a Be-er more than a Do-er.

Not that I don't DO... not that we all aren't called to both the Doing and the Being. 

We are.  (I believe even the Mary's DO and BE...)

But I think sometimes habit takes over and we are unaware and before we know it (or maybe it's just me) our habits or routines or going through the motions of how things get done can choke the life out of us in ways that make it hard to be who we are and still feel like who we are is enough.



Let it be said that no one put this pressure on me. Oh no... this is all my own doing. Well, mine and the enemies... it seems we still make quite the pair some days.

So - last Sunday when our pastor encouraged us to slow and to not just speak to who Jesus is, but to actually stop and ask Jesus who He says that WE are... well, who He said that I am is this: He said,

"You are a Resting Place for Me."

Well then... 

Immediately I found myself profusely apologizing to Him because - well, I haven't felt rested for weeks and I imagined that would mean He hasn't really been invited in and been able to rest with me, either! (...which is probably why I haven't felt rested! Insert vicious cycle.)

In this life, we were made for community, for family, and we are all called to Share... to share our true authentic selves with those around us and to connect and, I don't know, be human together! 

We are... but so often we get fuzzy in our thinking of how that should look. I was talking with a friend the other day about how Boundaries and Walls are not the same thing and about how our hearts know the difference.* 

Often times we hesitate to share because we're not sure how much it will cost us.

We forget that often times SHARING is simply showing up, --simply bringing who you are to the table...

We all have our parts and it's when we come to the table with who we really are that we see how the pieces all gloriously fit together and how in our broken wholeness, He gets to shine His glory right on through all those busted up cracks!

Here's the deal... when we remember this and show up and share from who (He says that) we are... well, that is when this family... this church... this tribe thrives! 

It's then that I am reminded that this community that God is growing --well...

We really are a family and we really are all in and we go all out to spread thin the lines that divide us, and we pour out grace and encouragement as we love on each other and invite and allow each other to simply show up and be who we are called to be!

There is such freedom in that! Let's make space at the table for each of us to pull up and simply be who we truly are. 

Let's watch and see how that is always, always enough!

{STOP}

Church planting, you guys... it's amazing and awe-inspiring and honestly we don't know what we are doing but it's beautiful and brutal. What we DO know is that we know HIM and we trust that when we remember how and who He made us to be --and we bring that person to the table... well, we trust that HE will show us what He is doing and invite us along for the ride!  So we keep showing up and sharing life and first and foremost, we keep being.

For in our being... 
He will show us what to do!

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  Five Minute Fridays gives us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click HERE to read what others have to say about: "SHARE"

The FMF lowdown: The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights & then we write our hearts out & hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday & Friday (& sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage & uplift... where we share prayer requests & praise reports... where we talk food & friends & we find support & kindred hearts. It's where we are reminded that life is good & God is good & we're not alone... & then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts & our fingers do the talking tapping & we hit publish before we can second guess it all away. We'd love to have you join us!

And oh that *: Boundaries and Walls...
That'll preach, my friends! I'll dig into that one soon!