EPISODE 69: BE MISSIONAL and BUILD
A MESSAGE FROM SARA:
When we decided to launch the Be Missional series, I was so, so excited. The idea of being missional has been a concept I have struggled with for most of my adult life.
In fact, I think I have been chasing it like a little kid on a Friday night in the fields of Kentucky trying to catch fireflies. The anticipation of filling my jar with those tiny little tails that light up like tiny little lightning storms kept me running around for hours with my friends until we were just exhausted or it was time to go in. The satisfaction of looking into your jar and seeing the fruits of your labor was satisfying and exciting.
Even now, I love to see lightning bugs flicker in the back yard.
This feeling of excitement and anticipation is how I think I started my adult life journey, and I’m arriving to the place of becoming who I was meant to be. I started with this jar open with lid in hand, just ready to capture any chance of something that would light up my jar.
At first, it was marriage and then it was motherhood. Soon after, I would find myself running around my house and church instead a backyard fields, chasing a glimpse of light, a glimpse of hope – a glimpse of something that even resembled being all I could be for God.
After all, He had given me such a heart and passion for Him – gifts and talents that I knew He needed. There were platforms all around that just looked so inviting and so missional…so God serving.
And yet…the harder I ran and more opportunities I chased to put in my jar, the more I heard the voice of my heavenly Father saying in such a still calm voice,
Sara, it’s time to come in.
But Father, I’d retort, the night is young and there are so many beautiful glimpses of light.
And He simply said again,
Sara, it’s time to come inside.
Oh how painful and confusing those words were for me. In fact, even though I obeyed Him, I went inside reluctantly and unhappily. I almost have to laugh at myself looking back at this thinking about what a little child I acted like.
What about all the others who get to stay outside and pursue their dreams? Why are you building their platforms and not mine? Why would you gift me the way you have only to tell me to BE STILL? Be Still? Are you kidding me? How can I go help grow the kingdom of God by Being Still?
Kay Arthur writes in her book, Lord is it Warfare? Teach Me to Stand that it is often in our solitude that we are drawn closest to God. God taught me a couple of things God during this time. One was that I forgot how to sit at the feet of Jesus. I had become more about the doing and not the being.
In other words, it was more about catching the fireflies and seeing how many I could get compared to everyone else. It wasn’t really about being content with whatever I was given. My life began to mirror the spirit of Martha instead of Mary. Life had become about running around getting ready for Jesus and never really enjoying His presence.
The Christian life was not meant to be like that. And it certainly is not sustainable.
Secondly, I had begun to live the consequences of comparison. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” My joy was nonexistent because I had fallen into the trap of comparing my life to others. Did God just trust them more? Love them more? I had become completely discontent with the yard that God gave me to catch my lights.
Instead, I wanted what other people had and questioned God regularly about his choices for me. As if I could possibly know more than Him! In Isaiah, He tells us that “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than ours and his thoughts higher than ours.”
I just quit trusting that He knew best. What I have learned though, is that what they do is theirs; and what I do is mine.
Mine is different from all others, and just as special to God. What matters is just accepting what is mine and not being distracted about what is theirs.
Being missional wasn’t about being on some grand platform. But today, I would almost argue that my platform is the best.
God called me to 7 years of serving my family, my marriage, and working. He pulled me from all other things…it was audible and so commanding. And because I obeyed, God has been able to mold my heart and my understanding of Being Missional.
The mission is all around us. It is in the cleaning of the toilet, in the laundry, in cooking and being the ultimate time manager. It is in the driving the kids around or changing a diaper. It’s in making a meal for a friend in need or watching someone else’s child just to give them a break.
It’s in the tiring 12 hours of helping other women bring life into this world. It’s in the willingness to be inconvenienced for the benefit of someone else just so you have the chance to be the light. We don’t have to chase the light…WE ARE THE LIGHT!
He is the mission.
Being missional means doing what He wants and wills for our lives, not what looks better than what we’re currently doing and how we’re currently serving.
Today, God has begun to lift my lid a little and offer opportunities beyond serving just my family. But that only happens as long as I keep the order in which I serve where it should be: God, husband, kids, others. But even as the lid is lifted – even just a little – I find myself fighting the temptation to look at other peoples jars and see what kind of light is flickering.
I’ve arrived to a place that I hear God’s voice a little more quickly say,
Sara, don’t look over there. Look straight ahead. Look straight at the cross. Look straight into the jar of wondrous lights I have placed before you.
It is a journey, this Be Missional thing. And for certain I have not figured it all out. With jar in hand and fields full of fireflies, I mold to the prayer of Lord,
Direct my steps to lead where you will, Lord! I don’t want to be telling you, ‘Lord, hold on; here we go!’
Looking for a new small group study? Check out the Be Together Small Group Bible Study on Be Loved and Live. It includes deeper levels of understanding, discussion and practical application. Get your copy today!
