Lessons from Libby.

My six year old niece Aubrey turned six in September.  She insisted on waiting until I got back from California to go ice skating to celebrate.  So we went the other night.  It was a blast.  She chose her cousin Emma, brother Bryson, and friend Libby to come along.  It was so fun to watch these first timers take the ice.

As I watched Libby learn, I was challenged.  You see, Libby was the one to fall the hardest, yet she kept jumping up.  She would barely flinch at her tumbles onto the cold, hard ice.  She quickly figured out how to get her awkward sharp skates behind her and get up by herself.  Libby was unafraid, and more aware of the new adventure at hand than the number of times she fell.

I couldn’t help but think about the ministry training I am currently doing.  One of the leaders says, we must fail 3x before we can pass the school. They tell us faith is spelled R-I-S-K.  We need to be able to take risks in order to really see His kingdom come here on earth as it is in Heaven.

By the end of the night, Libby was barely holding out in the wall, and spending most of her time in the middle of the ice.  We practically had to pull her off the ice to eat dinner (after and hour and a half, with no break).  Her falls were few and far between.  She learned the art of balancing.

And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 18:3

Welcome to Narnia

I got to go sledding yesterday!  I am well aware of the fact that I am no longer technically a child, believe me my muscles are practically screaming this at me today!   Nonetheless, it was so much fun.  The snow was falling freshly dusting everything stark white.  It was breathtaking.  It only took an hour to get to this little slice of Narnia.  Funny in several ways I feel that this little adventure parallels things God is teaching me.

1. DREAM BIGGER!  C.S. Lewis has painted a picture of a place, Narnia, that has come alive in thousands if not millions of imaginations.  It is not a place we have really seen or characters we have really met, yet somehow he is such a crafted artist that it all feels so real.  His paintbrush perhaps a pencil has left imprints on our imaginations.  May this life dream bigger than the things I can see with my eyes.  May I learn how to dream with One so much greater than I, and may those dreams dramatically shape future realities.

2. COMMUNITY MATTERS.  Initially we took on the hill, one by one.  Then we had the brilliant idea to go together.  It’s weird, it seems so much riskier.  You run the risk of 2 concussions versus one, right?  However I felt so much safer when I had someone with me for the crazy ride.  We even tried, emphasis on tried, to go down 5 at a time.  What a comfort in knowing that come what may, I was not alone.  I am so incredibly blessed to have amazing relationships to do life and ministry with, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way!

3. DON’T EVER STOP BEING A KID.  Kids have an incredible ability to live in the moment they are in.  There is a wonder in their eyes at all that lays before them.  They hop on that sled before thinking twice, while we analyze how many possible obstacles could hinder our ability to sail to the bottom.  They have endless energy and incomparable ability to hop up after a crash. (I find getting up especially tricky in winter gear, and frankly find the snow quite soft and comforting…)

Sweet Jesus, make me like a child, connect me with the right relationships, and teach me to dream bigger.