Saturday morning I was supposed to go to the gym. I even got
all dressed and ready to go. But as I was about to walk out the door of mom and
dads (I had spent the night after getting home late from a concert), I saw dad
sitting on the porch drinking his morning coffee and he asked me if I wanted to
sit down and stay a while. So I threw plans out the window, poured a cup of
coffee and sat down to enjoy it with him (now that he and mom are retired and
are traveling much more, I have to take advantage of these moments.) We chatted
and drank our coffee and then he asked me if I wanted to help him in the yard.
This is a constant question that is asked whenever I am over, and typically I
come up with the best of excuses. “Next time, dad.” “I have to go now. I have
plans, sorry..” But this time as I looked at my wide open Saturday, I decided to
say yes.
So out came the riding lawn mower. Dad loves his mower and
wanted to give me a lesson. So I sat down and listened as he explained the
gears and how to turn and make it go forward and backward, how to line up the
wheels with the cut part of the grass and trace an edge to go in circles. Then off I went. Dad makes riding that thing
look easy but suffice to say, after 45 minutes of trying to control that mower
with all of its fast starts and sudden stops and quick turns, dad and I had
both had our share of laughs and the entire yard looked like it had been mowed
by a drunken sailor (props to dad for totally Tom Sawyer-ing me into mowing the
entire yard, though!) It was probably the most fun I have had doing something new in a long time.
As I think back to Saturday morning and finishing the lawn I
realize that dad could have easily (and quickly) mowed the yard by himself. But
he wanted to teach me. He wanted to spend time with me. He delighted in seeing
me get up and try something I had never done before and laughing with me as I
looked ridiculous trying to do it. As I
think about what it means to respond to God’s call in your life, whatever that
might be, and how hard I get on myself when I don’t do things “right” or “the
best way possible”, when I see other people who do this whole pastoring thing
so much better than me, I realize, doing it perfectly right isn’t the
point. If God wanted it done perfectly
right God would have just done it alone. But the point is that God wants to
enjoy us in the process. God wants to laugh with us (not at us) at our
fumblings and our ridiculous attempts to be perfect. God wants to celebrate and
cry with us. God wants us to simply enjoy God’s presence along the way, because
God so delights in ours. God invites us to play in what God is already up to in the
world. For our benefit. For our joy. For our growth. Not because God is incapable without us, but because
God delights in us and wants us to play a part in God’s story. Because the
story would be incomplete without us, without you,
in it.
So maybe just for today, we can let go of the perfectionism
(don’t worry, it will be waiting for you tomorrow) and the fear of getting it
wrong and remember that God is a whole lot bigger than us. Maybe we can let go of having all the answers
and insisting on knowing what we are doing and just allow ourselves to be
present- to enjoy God’s presence along the way and let that be enough.
Won’t you sit down and stay a while? Go get some coffee…
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