Moving From Performance to Enjoyment: Watching God's Show

It was kind of a magical night. The kind where you forget about that difficult person at work or the fact that you need to buy a new car, and you just get lost in a story greater than your own.

It was Mary Poppins being performed on Mount Helix on a warm summer night, and a full moon slowly rising in the back.

The orchestra, the lights and costumes. The custest child lisp when little Jane or Michael spoke.

Our ticket included a fun shuttle up the mountain at sunset, where I snapped pictures with my mom and her bestie. And then we snuggled into our mountain-top seats, breaking out the goodies from our purses. And our imaginations were transported to London in the 1960's with the Banks family.

I remember smiling so much that night. I wasn't performing. I wasn't teaching a class, or leading a group, or bargaining a price, or making a schedule. I was just sitting back and watching. Delighting.

Perhaps this is America's great intrigue toward entertainment. A longing to sit back and watch a story unfold. To be captivated.

I'm told (statistics say) 3,000 times a day, that something about my life is wrong and must be fixed. And I move on a treadmill of work, and relationships and productivity. I meet and grade and strategize. I cook and work out. I follow a schedule and keep busy. Keep the inertia going. 

But I lose my story.

And I feel God's gentle call to sit back and watch His show.

I'm called to come "just as I am." I'm not called to perform. I'm called to be in His presence, to watch and delight! 

And, again, He puts on a show. He makes the sun rise with a brilliant set of colors. And then He sets it with a completely new array. 

And I clap at the end of each day, "do it again, do it again!" And He says, I'll do it again tomorrow... and every day... for the rest of your life. :-)