When we are young, declarations flow from our lips without limitation or restraint, like a stream flowing toward greater waters.
“I want to BE a doctor!”
“I want to BE a teacher!
“I want to BE a daddy or a mommy!”
“I want to BE a baseball player!”
“I want to BE a nurse!”
“I want to BE a soldier!”
We become who we say we will BE, if only in our imaginations.
Time marches on and the “I want to BE’s” somehow get baked out of our lives with grown up cares and concerns.
It’s kind of a shame if you want my two cents!
It makes a lot of sense to me to regard the words of Jesus “to become like a little child” when we think of the ambitions we once had, even at an early age, to BE something!
There are times when I hear someone speak and their words seem to haunt me.
In other moments words heard and which land on my doorstep have the effect of gnawing at me, as in “get away from me you pesky fly!”
Then there are words spoken which are like a daffodil or tulip that gets planted in the soil of my heart allowing me to soak in the beauty it has to offer.
The latter is my point of focus for now and has been for a few weeks.
Recently singer and songwriter, Jason Upton, was in concert on a Saturday evening at Life Center, the church which we now attend.
He also played and then spoke briefly during our Sunday morning service.
As he spoke, Jason recounted a story from his teenage years where he entered into a mentoring relationship with an older gentleman he knew.
The mentor intentionally flipped the tables on Jason, many times asking him what he would do in a given situation. It had the effect of empowering Jason to arrive at a guided answer to the question(s) at hand.
When the time came for Jason to head off to college, they met one last time at their favorite restaurant.
With a pen and a napkin in hand, Jason asked his mentor what advice he could offer him as he prepared to leave home to pursue his educational endeavors.
The mentor ultimately listed four things, played out in an intentional and deliberate cadence as Jason took pen to napkin with deft attention.
“Be still and know that I am God”, referenced in Psalm 46:10.
The mentor took it a step further and went on to say, “Be still and know” which he followed by stating, “Be still.”
Lastly, their time together was coming to an end. His final piece of advice was a solitary, “Be!”
The message was so simple, yet so profound.
Ten years after the fact, Jason had a dream in which God was speaking to him and the words of his mentor raced across the screen of his mind as his world began to get crowded.
He saw the following words:
- BElonging
- BElieve
- BEcoming
- BEloved
- BEautiful
- BEgin
They were all words which started with BE.
The aspirations we may have as young children have their place. We want to BE something.
As we get older we see ourselves with all sorts of labels attached to us, similar to the “I want to BE’s” I listed earlier.
Have you ever given much thought that maybe we are wired to discover who we are meant to BE?
We are so pre-occupied with our human “doings” we lose sight of the fact and pay less attention to the reality we are human “BEings”.
Our lives are frantic and out of control most of the time.
Perhaps you and I can write our own prescription a little more often and allow ourselves to simply BE.
- You could take a leisurely walk.
- Read a good book.
- Kick back and listen to a favorite musician.
- Do nothing.
- Draw or paint.
- Fall into an unexpected nap.
- Gaze at the stars.
- Take a hike.
- For me, it’s cycling.
Whatever it takes!
I am going to not only encourage you, but challenge you to take a moment (or two) to BE!
On a regular basis.
In doing so, it may draw you a little closer to the One who simply wants you to BE!
Photos courtesy of Creative Commons and Jessica Lamos
A final note, if you care to listen to the message given by Jason Upton, drop me a line via the contact form and I would be happy to point you in the direction of it – it is well worth the thirty minutes in which to invest.