Good message in church today; it started like this:
What do you long for?
Who is most important to you?
What is most important?
This next part stood out to me:
“We’ve been so comfortable for so long with certain things that we wonder why we should bother to change them or move forward? But are we really at home there? Are we really comfortable with what we are living with? Will the change that’s needed to live at our best be so harsh in comparison to the misery of living where we are? Maybe one day we will cry out ‘Enough! I’m ready for a new way of living.”
Overall, the sermon was really a reminder: “we” (meaning “you” and “I”) have been called to make an impact, to leave a mark. Which raises the question, the moment you move beyond where you’ve been is there any evidence you were ever there?
Um. Yeah. Wow. Let’s think about this.
Yes, as you can imagine, this message spoke to me so I took notes. Good thing I had my trusty pen.
When the pastor asked, “what can we do to maximize our impact?” I liked his answer:
1) Focus.
2) Step out beyond your comfort zone and risk doing what you sense God is saying to do.
(For me, God is something–spirit, light, soul, holy spirit–that is in everyone and every living thing. Recognizing the God in others, I also recognize it in myself. When I think of everyone and everything as holy, I find I learn more, I feel less conflicted and more at peace. So I don’t conceptualize God as an old, silver-haired white man, but as a kind of celestial magic that is in all of us. We are all bits and pieces of God. Which also connects us… So when I think to myself, ‘what is God saying to do?’ I look inward, listening for that voice of centeredness, that voice of ego-less wisdom; it is calm and wise and it always knows just what to do.)
3) Invite and invest. Now the idea behind invite and invest is to invite someone into your life by opening up more to them about what God is doing in you and where you want to go with your life. In other words, so many of us are closed off and don’t reveal where we are struggling and what we are trying to conquer. So we need to invite people into our lives by opening ourselves to them and hopefully, in return, they will open up to us and that is where “invest” comes into play. At that point, we have the opportunity to be there for them. “As iron sharpens iron so one friend sharpens another.”
So we invite people into our lives to assist us and help us get to where God is taking us and we invest in what God is doing in their lives by being there for them, listening, encouraging and praying for them.
Near the end, he asked, “what is the one thing I need to do this week to leave a mark? (Is there forgiveness I need to ask? Is there restructuring in my schedule? Is there a step God (or that voice of wisdom deep inside you, as I like to put it,) is asking you to take that represents a risk for you?)”
The pastor had passed out post-it notes before the service, we were then invited to write down what it is we need to do this week, then post it on a board at the front of the congregation; at the top it read “Impact.” I knew exactly what mine was and wrote it immediately, then waited. When I saw the first few peeps get up and go forward, I joined them at the front, leaving my post on the “Impact” board.
I thought I might share some inspiration. I hope you find it useful…
So. What are you longing to do? And when are you going to do it?
Cheers
Shawn
Forgiveness.