Monday, March 2, 2009

I am spending some time writing, reading, praying and generally trying to rest and be peaceful. This is instead of my typical habit of coming home and "checking out." You know...watching tv and eating. This new leaf is in conjunction with my recent change in status - I am officially without a roommate for the first time in almost ten years. What an amazing feeling.

Work is going really well. Our help desk receptionist is taking a well-deserved vacation for the rest of the week. Selfishly, I don't even know why I am going in to work tomorrow. She keeps everything running smoothly. She makes my appointments, handles my calls, and keeps the squeaky wheels at bay. LOL I don't think I'll bother going in tomorrow the more I think about it.

I've started on a new project that actually snuck into my consciousness in the winter of 2005. I was working on a data entry project that used .75% of my conscious brain power to work efficiently so I found myself with extra time. Out of that extra time grew a few ideas that tapped into my excitement and passion. One in particular was a desire to create a safe place for healing and growth in an at-risk area. By a home and open the doors. Lots of prayer and laughter. Food for empty stomachs, love for hardened hearts, you know, the good stuff of life. An open door for widows and orphans. A safe place when life crumbles around us. God's presence to tie it all together. No pity parties, just lots of Heaven on earth!

So, I'm praying into that right now. Talking with people that will humor me and listen. Carving time to shape my heart into serving my Daddy. Taking time to consider the cost of not just living my life for my comfort and security. Making sure I am honest with myself about what this means. I want this, I just don't want to lie to myself about how much it hurts to die to my self-centered ways.

I was reading the Book of Daniel this morning. Two things stood out to me in the first couple chapters. First, Daniel's prayer thanking God for revealing Nebby K. Nezzar's dream. I love Daniel's response to God's love and faithfulness to Daniel. Second, Daniel's comraderie with Ananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. In verses 17 and 18 of chapter 2, a simple narrative is used to describe the community existing between the four of them. My heart just groaned a little at that picture of fellowship. I know God wouldn't have opened my eyes to the sweetness of fellowship in those two verses (it's not like they stand out on their own) for any other reason than to set this desire on my heart so he can fill it. I hunger for this fellowship of followers committed to hungering for more of God's radical love transforming social injustices into redemptive narratives of God's presence and hunger for more of us!

Time's up!