Moments
Let me tell you a little story that happened to me the other day. I was leisurely sitting in my room maybe reading a book or decompressing from the day. My phone starts to ring, and it is one of the residents. I answer as they are a little frantic, telling me about how shots were fired, and people had been shot. This resident was supposed to be where that happened, but something came up and they weren’t. It was late, I was not supposed to be “working” at that time. In fact, I even got in my pajamas after that and was ready to stay in my safe bubble of a room, in comfort and peace. I almost stayed… but the still small voice continued to nudge, “this is a time to lean in, a time to be present.” I still sat in bed and wrestled with obedience, “ugh nooooo I just want to stay in bed, this is supposed to be my me time.” But after enough wrestling I put normal clothes back on and went to wait downstairs for the resident to return. They couldn’t find their key and they had too many grocery bags to carry themselves. So, I walked outside barefoot and all to meet them where they were at and serve a tangible need. For the next 30 – 1 hour I stayed with them as they put their groceries away and processed what had happened. I could have missed the whole thing, this beautiful moment of walking with someone, of just being there. This moment filled me more than that lost hour of sleep ever would have.
Jesus says in Mark 8: 34-36 ESV:
“if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit and man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
TPT version frames it this way:
“Jesus summoned the crowd along with his disciples, and had them gather around. And he said to them: If you truly want to follow me, you should at once completely disown your own life. And you must be willing to share my cross and experience it as your own, as you continually surrender to my ways. For if you let your life go for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will continually experience true life. But if you choose to keep your life for yourself, you will forfeit what you try to keep.”
It could have been SO easy to stay in my PJs. I was already snuggled in bed and the last thing I wanted to do was enter into someone else’s "mess." Haha #brat… It could have been easy to preserve my own life, rather than sacrifice and enter in. These are the moments that become integral, a catalyst to others lives and even our own. Moments that build trust, companionship, and presence.
When I’ve chose to enter in EVERY SINGLE TIME they are the stories that make my job and life beautiful. Sure, sometimes boundaries are thrown out the door like my phone ringing at four am or knocks on my door in the middle of the night.
In these moments I have a choice and when these moments appear to you, you have a choice. Ultimately, we can serve self or we can listen to the still small voice that says “hey come on lets use this moment, be a part of it with me – by serving others you are serving me” these are the moments that make life meaningful – and also messy haha! Several times we choose to serve self. I mean, for this one little story I entered in to I have countless others where I chose to turn away, to stay in bed, to not answer the phone, to go a different way home, to look the other way. Now I know I’m not going to always pick to serve others and neither will you (probably). It’s super hard, and there are times where we should do something for ourselves. BUT I won’t lie the moments we miss are grand missed opportunities. The moments we choose to serve others are the moments that are life giving. Such a subversive concept to wrap our minds around. To lose our life is to gain.
much love,
kims
