Is there something that you really need in your life? Something to which you often cling? It could be an addiction - good or bad. It could be a routine. It could be music. It could be a food. (Pie. It's definitely pie.) I think everyone probably has that one thing. Or seven.
One thing I need, more and more as the days past, is my church. I walk in the door and immediately feel a reduction in stress. I'm anxious to get there every Sunday morning. It smells really good when you walk in the door - because they sell legal addictive stimulants, or better (perhaps lesser) said, coffee. I don't know that many personally, but being with God's people, there is just nothing like it. Knowing that the people around you share your most precious thing - your faith - I. Love. It.
When you spend the majority of your time with people who do not understand your motivation, your heart, your passion....it feels good to exhale. Really exhale.
It took me several years to reconcile my disjointed feelings about church. I know all the songs like "Deep and Wide" and "This Little Light of Mine." (I would challenge you to a "Jr Church - Name That Tune" ANY day of the week.) I know all the lingo - eternal security/KJV/predestination/pre-mid-post-tribulation. I know all the mascots - like a singing songbook. I know how to sit still through a very long church service. I know what it is like to be raised in a culture of fear. As an adult, I had to wrestle with that. I had to come to terms with childhood questions, fears, and negative experiences. I am certain I won't ever overcome all the emotional obstacles of that hazy, yet distinct, reality; yet, I remain most grateful that my heart remained tender. It could have gone so many other ways, so many other directions.
One thing I pray most for my children is that they would have tender hearts. Tender toward others. Tender toward God. The world is in desperate need of strong, yet tender hearted, men. And this. This is what I see in the hearts that surround me on Sundays. Tender, grateful hearts. This is the environment I crave, and the environment in which I can thrive.
I enter church and find a deep balm for my soul. A salve that can't be fully explained, or found anywhere else. A resonance of love and assurance. A benediction of mercy, with the knowledge that I can walk unafraid through this life because one day, one day, death lost and love won.
When I leave church, I walk like a lion.
(Skillet - Google it)
(Turn it UP!)
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