The Waiting Place
I have been blessed with the opportunity to be part of a book launch. Not just any book launch, but Ann Voskamp’s! If you don’t know who she is, well, you are missing out! As part of this launch, I have been grafted into a community of other believers who have the chance to read Ann’s (we’re on a first name basis…she liked one of my posts, after all) new book, The Broken Way, which is being released later this month (October 25th to be exact). With this community we are able to share our stories of brokenness and healing. I’ve read stories from all of these women (and men) and my heart has grieved with them and rejoiced with them. I’ve watched as they have posted about how the book is stirring new things in their broken hearts, how it has encouraged them and drawn them closer to God with a deeper understanding and meaning for their brokenness.
And then I’ve waited. I’ve waited for something to strike the core
of me as I’ve read, because I knew it would come. Books have that way with me. Words have a way of piercing my innermost
being, striking a match and lighting a flame of passion for God, and a flame
where the ugliness inside of me can be laid upon a burning altar for God to
purify.
Then came Chapter 6. Oh dear, sweet chapter six. The words hit home…a home run to my heart
with the battles I’ve been waging as of lately!
“Look, the whole lot of us are done with
waiting room theology. We are done
waiting for some elusive future moment to say life is good enough. We are done waiting for some big enough
house, some big enough step up, some big, exciting enough experience to finally
think we’ve arrived at the abundance of being and living enough…. we are done
with waiting room living.” (p.87)
I don’t know if you’ve ever read “Oh, The Places
You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss. If not, go to
your local library and check it out NOW! It’s not just a book for kids. Trust me!
Anyway, back to Ann and her words.
When I read that quote, I thought about all of the times I’ve waited and
I thought about the waiting place in Dr. Seuss’ book. Waiting is hard. Waiting makes me feel like life is
stagnant. You know, that quiet still
pond that is buried underneath that green-smelly moss? That kind of stagnant. Blech!
And I feel like I’ve been waiting lately.
“Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come,
or a plane to go, or the mail to come, or the rain to go…. everyone is just
waiting…NO! That’s not for you!” (Dr. Seuss)
I don’t want to wait around for life to find
me. I want to live an abundant life. It’s
what has been my heart’s cry lately…ABUNDANT LIFE! And I feel like this nugget in chapter six
was written just for my heart!
“What if instead of waiting for good enough
things to happen to us, we could be the good thing to happen to someone else
who’s waiting? What if we could cure our
own waiting room addiction by making room in our life to be the good others are
waiting for? … What if abundant living isn’t about what you can expect from
life, but what life can expect from you?” (p.87)
Ann goes on to say, “the world is brokenhearted and full of suffering, and if you listen to
what life needs instead of what you need from it, you could fill the brokenness
with your own brokenhearted love – and this will in turn fill you.”
Ahhh…. the truth that I couldn’t put into
words. Living to give myself to others
is when life becomes abundant. Really,
if you look at the life of Jesus, didn’t he do this? Wasn’t He giving Himself so that others could
have life. He gave everything. So why do I hold back giving of myself,
giving of my time, my energy, my talents, my love?
“What if living the abundant life isn’t
about having better stories to share but about living a story that lets others
live better?” (p.92)
I want an abundant life that lets others live
better. I have been through things that
have torn my heart to pieces. I’ve
watched friends go through difficulties that have rocked them to the core. And I’ve watched those same friends give out
of their brokenness, even though it broke them a little each time they did
so. Their pain and their brokenness allowed
others to find healing and in the process they found healing, and abundant
life. I want to do the same, use my
broken pieces of my past to help others find healing, find life.
“When you are filled to the brim with the
enoughness of Christ, the only way you can possibly have more is to pour
yourself out. The only way to more life
is by pouring more of yourself out.” (p.93)
Abundant life = pour out → receive more →
pour out → receive more → repeat
“Live for something worth dying for. Let love break into you and mess with you and
loosen you up and make you laugh and cry and give and hurt because this is the
only way to really live…Don’t waste a minute on anything less than what lasts
for all eternity.” (p.95)
Eternity.
What is the one thing that will last for all eternity? People.
It’s time for me to live that abundant life that I have been praying
for. It’s time to pour out on the people
around me, at work, on the kids at the therapeutic riding center, at church, to
the people I run into in the community.
It’s about people. So maybe my
prayers for an abundant life start with giving of myself. Thank you Ann, for your words in chapter
six. They were exactly what I needed in
this moment as I grasp the abundant life.
“You
are where you are for such a time as this – not to make an impression, but to
make a difference.” (p.91)
For more information, check out the book at: www.TheBrokenWay.com
Comments