I'm Busy, Busy, Terribly Busy!
Where has there been evidence of beauty for you in 2020?
Yesterday I was interviewed on the Impossible Beauty podcast (airing soon), my answer to this question surprised me.
I’ve seen so much beauty through our community of friends and family in their acts of selfless love and caring through these months.
Interestingly, I’ve learned more about community, feeling more seen and loved during quarantine than I did when life was proceeding as normal.
As life has forced a slow down of sorts I’ve become more aware of my folly of being so focused on work and my to-do list that I kept my nose to the ground and well, worked. I love working. I love doing what I get to do. But isolation is a sneaky thing. It grows stealthily right under our noses when we’re too busy to notice it.
2020 brought enough pause and disruption that it helped me see these unhealthy patterns I’ve lived with and the many ways I haven’t been a good friend. It took good friends showing up for me and loving me anyway to help me recognize how insular I’d become.
There’s a Veggie Tales song (those are often super convicting to me!) from the Good Samaritan episode that says, “I’m busy, busy, terribly busy, more than a bumble bee more than an ant. I’m busy, busy, dreadfully busy, I’d like to help but I can’t.” This song sits in my mind like a mirror. I’ve been so ‘busy’ thinking my work is so important, with all the good intentions of helping but rarely actually showing up.
I love helping people. These are the golden threads in the fabric of my calling.
How much goodness gets lost in our busy-ness?
Grace is getting what we didn’t earn or deserve. And grace is what our community has shown our family over these months while our daughter has been sick. Even when we might have failed to show up for them (sorry!), they were still there at our porch bringing meals, sending flowers and cards, dropping off fun things for the kids.
Our daughter recently said, “Perhaps something God is teaching us through this is how to care well for others and help them when they need it.” Yes! I agree, I want to be first in line to show up when someone I care about needs help. We’ve experienced how much this matters!
So often we think of Christianity as a personal faith when really it’s a communal faith. Sure there are deeply personal aspects but the essence of our faith is meant to be lived out, expressed and forged in community.
Faith is not cultivated in a silo or in a vacuum. It might have some resemblance of faith but it will lack the vibrancy and freedom and abundance of its whole invitation.
We are invited to a banquet feast and so often we settle for crumbs of stale bread. The table is set for many, not just one. Come to the table and feast to your heart’s desire surrounded by those that love you and you love.
Awaken to the holiness of life. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. (1 Cor 15:34 MSG)
While it might have been months since I’ve raised a glass seated at a long table surrounded by people I love. I am grateful to see that beauty extends beyond the physical. Community is tenacious, resilient, creative and beautiful. Invest there and rest there. Know you are loved simply for who you are (not what you do!).