I was pushing my shopping cart in the grocery store. I was in a hurry (Of course!) and pushing more on one side because the thing kept veering off to one side as I walked, trying to smash into every aisle. “I. Only. Have. To. Get. A. Few. More. Items,” I grunted begrudgingly, pushing hard with both hands on one side of the cart.
I don’t want you to go through life like this. I thought I sensed God whispering in my heart.
And while we’re chatting, do you want another cookie and to join me in playing a game on my iPad, friend?
The sun peeked through the darkness.
The storm was lifting. Hope filled the air along with the fresh scent of life, stirring, awakening with the rain. It was a new season.
Today.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
I stretched, removed the covers from my bed and sat up, looking around me blankly. What would this new day, this new season bring, now that this storm was lifting, I wondered? I poured my coffee and asked these questions of God, and his whisperings startled me.
There is so much in my life that He is longing to awaken. How about in yours?
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
And how do we awaken, if we, like Sleeping Beauty, have been spiritually resting for a few years?
Try this: As the song below plays1 and as you sit with your morning coffee, pondering this new day or this new season, what stirrings in the dry soil of your heart, of seeds coming to life, do you sense?
Oh! And she sings of repentance in this song, but I wouldn’t recommend THAT or anything! In my humble opinion, there doesn’t seem to generally be any need to travel down any spiritual path as far as repentance would take us.
Please!
I definitely recommend turning back and hanging out with the rest of us who don’t want to walk THAT far! And anyway, the part of the song about repentance doesn’t apply to me, thankfully! (It may, however, apply to you, of course.)
True repentance [is] not merely . . . sorrow over sin, but . . . a “sweet sorrow” arising from a new, awakened delight in the beauty of God.2
1 She’s a little serious in this song. You’ll want to offer her a cookie and tell her, “Hey, Lady! Relax a bit!” (At least I do.) The point is that it’s good to wake up spiritually. She gets that part, so we can at least learn that bit from her!
2 And may you awake a little more with each poke repentance gives our sleeping form, friend.
Got time to watch the movie going on right next to you, friend?
The bird flitters from branch to branch.
It’s a yellowish green. It has yellowish-green feathers and a little white circle around its eye – a flycatcher. This family of birds has built its nest here for at least a dozen of its little bird generations, for as long as we have visited this summer cabin.
We didn’t notice them for the first few years.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
We only heard them, the little “Whew-it!” sound, rising at the end, every two minutes or so. “Just another bird sound,” we thought, eating our food at the outside table and distracted by the food and by each other. But that sound sure was insistent.
Could there be more to this incessant sound than just another bird flitting around nearby somewhere?
“Can you pass the peanut butter?”
And we forgot about them again.
Until the baby bird fell out of the nest that summer and flapped pathetically on the floor right beside our table outside.
“Whew-it! Whew-it!” We heard that same sound now, but more intensely, more insistently, louder.
It was the Father bird calling, imploring the little bird to stretch its wings, give flying a go, insistent now.
Our eyes had finally awakened to EXACTLY WHICH bird made that insistent sound, and was the nest far away? Directly above where the little bird was flapping, we finally noticed the obvious – a nest in the rafters just above us. The birds flitting above us as we ate our meals several times per day were the parents. They were doing their little bird jobs, telling the babies to wait a bit – they would bring more food once the scary demon humans had eaten their meals and finally cleared out. The birds were flitting and making noise above us as we were eating our meals.
A lot was going on that we didn’t have eyes to see until the unusual happened.
A baby bird flapped, and its Father called next to our feet as we ate our lunch that day.
And when we got up from the distractions of more food and of each other, and took a closer inspection at this bird, and then followed the clues to notice the bird’s nest above our heads, finally, we were awakened to a whole other world that had been going on right next to us for years.
And in precisely the same way, God wants us to open our eyes to see the realities of the spiritual dimension, happening right next to us every minute of our lives.
Sometimes we see something remarkable, something that makes us rub our eyes and say, “What now?” kind of like a baby bird flapping at our feet during breakfast.
Sometimes we hear a sound, repetitive and gentle, kind of like the “Whew-it!” sound of a flycatcher repeatedly calling to its young while we distractedly eat breakfast.
“What was that?” we wonder, but then all is quiet again, and maybe it’s just another bird in the trees doing who-knows-what, we think, returning to our breakfast cereal.
Sit by me, friend! I found some hope to share today!
I was startled when I saw it.
It was a mundane circumstance for those without eyes to appreciate it.
But my heart quickened many beats. God seemed to be whispering in the ordinary, calling me to see something more profound than this mundane object. Would I have ears to hear? Did I have time to listen? Was I too busy to notice?
Shhh. . . Can you hear your heart speak what can’t be said, friend?
I have some permanent lines on my face as I’ve gotten (a bit!) older. I like the horizontal “smile lines” on the edges of my face. I also have vertical lines between my eyebrows.
I got those because I have been confused most of my life.
It’s NOT that I ever get angry! I’m mad that you think that! Anyway, the article below shows one of the ways I felt (a bit!) confused at times.
And oh!
This article is one of the crowd favorites, so I’m sure there MUST BE some wisdom in the confusion! May you gain more insight as you read, even if you feel a bit more confused at first, too! I hope this helps you!
Come here and sit by ME to get your life transformed, friend!
Tony Robbins1 is larger than life, both in terms of stature (6’7” – 1.98 m) and influence.
I have considered myself larger than life as well. For example, that time when I gained some weight! So, I point out, however humbly, that there are some slight similarities in the impact of my life, Tony Robbins’ life, and God!
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
The context of today’s article is that I was part of the energetic, jumping crowd that listened to some of Tony Robbins’ free Time-To-Rise teaching series on YouTube this week.
When Tony Robbins’ talk began this week, I thought he said there were two billion people at his online meeting. At that level, he would be helping almost as many people as Jesus in that moment! However, I got order of magnitude confused, and it was ONLY two million people that he was helping!
It’s easy to mix up how many zeros there are after a number when we consider how many people we have helped!
As for me, I don’t have quite as many zeros after my two people that I have helped,2 but, as Tony Robbins helpfully points out, it’s not the order of magnitude that matters so much as how much value you provide!
Jesus feeds every person on the planet every moment, if our eyes are open enough to see. For example, check out this YouTube channel. He is helping lots of people!
And there are tons of other people with boring4 lives like mine that Jesus also helped!
For now, we have firmly established that Tony Robbins and Jesus5 help people! A future article will compare the details of how Tony Robbins helps people (He helps a lot of people!) and how God helps people (God also helps a lot of people!). We hope that, after delving into this theme in more detail, you, too, can find someone (awesome) to help you transform your life!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
2 For example, I helped two people in my church a few years ago! Once, I helped a child in our church find her toy after I gave her toy to my daughter because I liked my daughter more! I also helped one other person way before that, but I can’t remember the details now.
3 It should be noted, just as an aside, that I feed my family almost every night, which is also impressive because I’ve cooked even when I didn’t want to!
4 And by boring, I mean exciting because I write online, so of course I have a fascinating life under the boring bits!
In the last article, we discussed the hints of a spiritual revival breaking out, especially among youth. Here’s another example of a quiet revival that occurred among some youth several years ago. And when I say ‘quiet revival,’ it wasn’t so quiet.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
A few Christian youths who lingered after church to pray made international news headlines.
Many of us have experienced something similar to what happened at these events.
For example, several years ago, I was sitting beside a lake one morning, minding my own business, when God’s spirit ushered into my life and gently woke me.
What happened at Asbury reminded me of this experience. A bunch of regular kids attended a church service. It was an uneventful day.
But God‘s spirit rushed in and grabbed them, gently shaking them with a deeper awareness of His love.
The kids stayed and worshiped.
We know someone who attended that event. This person said that the sense of God‘s love was palpable as soon as you entered the building. Many others felt it too. In the sermon that Zach Meerkreebs preached just before this outbreak, he said, “Make sure you experience God‘s love. Don’t graduate until you have experienced God‘s love. Don’t leave this building until you have experienced God’s love.”
How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding – this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!
And, coincidentally perhaps, I was asked this question this morning: How would this (day, month, or) year look different if you really understood that you are deeply loved? A good question. (Who wouldn’t fly around the world to experience a bit more of the felt presence of God’s love?)
But we can also experience this type of powerful felt presence of God’s love in our own homes.
The time when God touched me, powerfully, precisely as happened in Asbury, I also experienced a deeper understanding of God’s love just before it. I had listened to a sermon by Rolland Baker. He said that many of us are seeking outpouring, seeking even what happened in places like Asbury, but what we need to seek is simply God.
And so this touch of God at Asbury that shook the world, that is waking us up to say,there is more, is possible within each of our hearts and in our homes and in our churches in every moment.
These startling truths came from a story I was telling about when I made some doggy pants HERE and HERE.
Here is the last part of that story:
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
As I was about to leave the coffee shop, I thought Holy Spirit was nudging me to buy another coffee. But I didn’t want another coffee! “Maybe my life is not entirely about what I want,” I reminded myself.
I stood in line.
Clerks were running everywhere, and many different people were taking orders. Again, I wasn’t surprised when I got the same clerk, because this felt like a God-appointment.
Ask him about his church, Holy Spirit seemed to prompt my heart as I ordered coffee.
“Hey, you said you are a Christian. Have you found a good group of people at a church around here to belong to?”
I wasn’t surprised when he said no. Theology that revolved around the type and frequency of product he smoked, the topic of our earlier conversation, didn’t seem completely orthodox. “Even though my mom is an atheist, I used to go to church. But I don’t have a ride right now,” he said as he gave me my change.
Again, a nudge from the Lord.
Do you have a car? Holy Spirit seemed to ask me, tongue in cheek. I offered him a ride to our thriving church. He declined, and I presumed there were deeper reasons why He wasn’t part of a church community.
I walked away, carrying a bagel I was too full to eat.
Lord, there is so much spiritual food here at Your table. May many young men truly know they are forgiven and loved and thus seek their next steps in a relationship with You and other believers. May these young men find another who can lead them to the feast.
Update to this article: This story is perhaps an UNSUCCESSFUL example of spiritual renewal. However, this event happened a couple of years ago, and since then, God has been answering my prayer (I state, however humbly). For example, check out this report from Britain1.
News of a growing number of young people – and in particular young men – turning back to Christian faith has grabbed the attention of even the secular media in recent months.
To be clear, I am NOT talking about a rise in Christian Nationalism, which is weird, but I am talking about young men nudged by Holy Spirit to show up at church. Then they get touched by God, and their lives are transformed, which is not weird (In the traditional sense of the word – wait – maybe that is weird, but weird in a good way!)
I hope everything is much clearer for you now!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!
1 We are excitedly noticing a similar trend of a quiet revival among youth in our area of Canada.
Make some for yourself, too, God seemed to whisper to me that day several years ago. God had been nudging me to make fleece pants with my kids and their friends. Now, He seemed to be nudging to make fleece pants for me, too.
So, I was online ordering fleece fabric.
A particular type of fabric stood out to me, as joy bubbled from within. I bought the fabric with golden retrievers stamped all over it (True story, but why would I lie about that?). I made my pants.
And now, I will convey something challenging to articulate.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
Shockingly, these doggy fleece pants are like a key opening a door between another culture and me.
People who would never even bother looking down their nose at me suddenly become my best friends. I am accepted by a whole new world of people when I wear these pants. These pants melt their hearts, and they pour their love on me, after asking me where they, too, can buy the same pants.
Note: I say this HUMBLY, but in THIS article, I deferentially mention the name brands of the clothes I am wearing, because I am THAT kind of a person. Just saying. Read more HERE.
But a couple of stories to illustrate the surprising allure of these doggy pants: Once, someone exclaimed jubilantly that she loved my pants and then recounted a surprising amount of her life story as I stood, listening, stunned and speechless, my to-go coffee cup waiting in my hand, mid-air, for her to finish. This kind of thing happens often.
It happened today.
The teenage guy working at Tim Hortons spent five minutes before taking my order telling me he loved my pants, telling me a story about his dog, and then speaking with the lady next to him about whether she liked dogs or cats better.
I listened mutely and smiled.
When I finally pulled away from him to sit at a table to drink my coffee, I noticed the table was covered with crumbs. I returned to that young man to quickly ask for a napkin to clean it. He leaned in to confide that they are understaffed, “But I will clean the table for you.” Stunned, I watched him wipe my table.
Then he said, “People really surprise me sometimes.”
“How do you mean?” I asked.
He was quiet.
I offered, pointing to the messy table, “You mean how people are always making messes?”
He nodded.
He seemed to need a crumb to eat, as he lingered a bit longer at my table. I wondered what I could say in the several seconds left of our interaction that could feed him just a little. “Well, it’s a good thing that God forgives us after we create our messes.”
I looked innocently away, waiting for the metaphor to nourish his soul.
The crumb nourished him, and his hunger pangs made him sputter forcefully, “I can’t believe people don’t know I’m a Christian! I don’t even smoke!” He then felt the need for some reason to confess to speaking a partial truth to me, a perfect stranger, by quickly adding, “Well, I do smoke weed.”
My brain was overheating. “Did he say that smoking weed made him a Christian?” I wondered.
Or that smoking cigarettes made a person not a Christian? It’s hard to keep all that theology straight – I can empathize!
“And so, where do we go from here, God?” I prayed. What do I say in the twelve nanoseconds before he departs to resume his job? Clearly, he was being nourished, somehow, by the crumbs of this measly conversation.
But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.”
“All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said.
Jesus said, “Bring them here.” . . . They all ate their fill.
“Well, if we can truly understand that God loves us after we mess up our tables, that’s the important part, right?” I offered him, like a crumb. Would he take and eat?
He stared at me, fumbled, and then dropped his cleaning cloth.
His hat fell off as he bent over to pick up the fabric. He stared at me a moment before picking that up, too. He was deep in thought.
Eye contact one more time before he walked away.
Was there a glimpse of light lit for a moment, so that Your light broke through this ordinary day for a clerk at Tim Hortons, God?
May this generation find messy tables wherever they go, we pray.
And may the crumbs somehow, by your grace, be multiplied to nourish the soul. There is more, there is more, there is more, He is saying to the teenage boy working at Tim Hortons. There is more to this story, too. I’ll continue it another time.
For now, how can our lives spiritually feed others?
We get thirsty.
Jesus said, “. . . Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever.”
Restoring Life 