laugh

So I had a conversation today that was ten years in the making.  That’s right, ten years.  For ten years I’ve been showing up, being present, initiating conversations, asking questions, and praying that one day the door might swing open and I might have the conversation with a dear friend that I have always dreamt of and hoped for—a conversation that was genuine and real and vulnerable, where we talked about things that really mattered; the matters of the heart and soul.  Well, today was the day…and it was absolutely wonderful!!!  Even as we talked I was thinking, “This is it!  This is the conversation I have longed to have with you, but could not possibly orchestrate, manipulate my way into, or control.”  It was a total gift—as most things of the Spirit are—and one I had waited for and looked forward to for oh so long.

Somewhere in the middle of the walking and the talking a comment came, “Oh, I’m reading your book.  I’m on day eighteen.  It’s really helping me reflect on all that God is up to in my life these days.”  That this dear friend would care enough to read it in the first place was totally overwhelming, but to hear that it had actually been helpful…that was more than I ever could’ve hoped for.  I left our time an incredibly grateful man; grateful for my friend, grateful for his life, grateful for his desire to trust Jesus in the midst of it, grateful for his vulnerability, grateful for his courage…grateful, grateful, grateful.  As a matter of fact, when I got home I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of it all that all I could do for the next hour was sit, and reflect, and savor, and pray.  And as I did, I remembered what he said about being on Day 18 in Reflections that day, so I went back to see what it had to say.  It is a reflection of the parable of the sower in Mark 4, how appropriate is that?  And here’s part of what I read:

     One other truth the parable reveals to us is that ministry is a lot like farming.  It is hard, slow work.  It does not feel very heroic and involves a lot of difficult and mundane tasks.  It involves knowing your land well—constantly walking the fields to check their condition and to stay attentive to what needs to be done (and when).  It is work that’s messy and will get your hands dirty.  There is no way to do it from a distance—you have to be in it up to your elbows.  It is not just a hobby, but an entire way of life (a calling).  It is a life filled with tilling the soil, and weeding, and digging.  It is a life filled with plowing up the hard ground and breaking up the rocky soil.  It is a life filled with doing whatever it takes to make the soil (soul) as receptive as possible to the seed of the Word.

And I just had to laugh; of course it would say that!  God speaking to me, reminding me of the beauty of His truth...through my own pen.  Haha, isn’t that just like God?