Sacred Ground Ministries

Winter has always been one of my favorite seasons. For me it’s a time of slowing down, pausing to savor the outside air for just a few minutes until giving up in to the cold and calling it a day a bit earlier in the evening. Winter can be an invitation to come inward, into our homes for warmth, and into our hearts for reflection.

I have to admit, however, that some of my days are a bit slower than I’d like.

In choosing to set aside my career in exchange for being home with August, life looks a lot different for me than it once did. It has changed my life in mostly wonderful ways. I can see the gift that has been given to me, the gift of presence, getting to take in every mini-milestone of my son. More than that, I feel convinced of this choice for our family, knowing that my personal calling as a mother is one of self-sacrifice.

Yet, if I’m not vigilant, the feeling that I’m missing out begins to creep in.

By nature, I am a person who finds herself with a full schedule and multitasking my way through my days. It is probably fair to say that for the last several years, God has been showing me the worth found in saying “no” to things and taking time away in solitude and silence. I will be forever grateful for being introduced to the spiritual disciplines of solitude and silence while in college at Moody. It was a remarkable realization for me to see that a great portion of my spiritual life should include me inhabiting quiet and calm places regularly.

I have felt the back and forth tug of this for several years, sometimes succeeding at maintaining balance more than other times.

However, my daily life and high functioning tendencies have, in the last 7 months or so, been brought to a careening halt. My loss of time and energy has been a big adjustment for me, but one that I feel as though God has been preparing me for in a lot of ways. Through the last several years I have stepped by varying degrees into the world of creating boundaries and embracing the spiritual disciplines. There are still days, though, when I need reminding that I am loved based on who I am, not what I am doing.

This time of year is an invitation to linger a little longer and to notice things a little more intently because there’s less busyness. It’s a time to remember that our Savior came as a baby, not rushing through the painstaking time it takes for a human to grow. The gravity of the incarnation of Jesus has become so much more real since realizing how much of the day-in and day-outness it requires to carry life inside of a mother’s womb and then sustain that life. It’s also a time to remember that Jesus lived his life in obscurity for the majority of His life, working with His hands and attending His local church.

In some of the reading I did during this last year, I came across an explanation of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist that resonated so deeply with me, probably because of how given I am to feel insignificant if I’m not doing something. In Matthew chapter 3, we see Jesus partaking in the symbolic act of baptism in order to identify more fully with those He came to save. This event marked the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry while on Earth.

¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The word’s of God here are so beautiful because of when they are spoken. This evaluation of Jesus from God is before Jesus began His ministry. If our life’s desire is to live a life pleasing to God, perhaps it is less about what we are doing and who we are becoming.

Surely the time Jesus spent not doing public ministry was not wasted. The same is true for us. Moments and time are not wasted. God uses it all to make us more like Him. Whatever the lesson needs to be, God masterfully uses everything, big and small. The time I spend working in the often hidden and private ministry of the home is not wasted.

For now, my days are slow. Time goes by in a different way than it once did. It’s for the most part quiet and I’ve had to resist the temptation to fill the quiet with useless noise. Instead, I’ve learned to appreciate the sights and sounds of home, noticing a little more the way the light dances on the floor through the windows and being in rhythm with the predictable patterns of mail delivery and garbage collection.

Surely each moment is a gift and is being used to form something in me I otherwise couldn’t understand.

so much love,