Today is different than any other day. I’m sitting in the middle of a toy strewn living room (okay, that part is not different), and I’m making a list. Insert gasp if you know me at all. I’m not a list maker by nature. Ordinarily I like to busily run through my day welcoming interruptions and changes in our “plan”. What has pushed my pendulum to the planning side you ask? Three words: Fall Staff Conference.
My mind is buzzing with phrases like: bring hair brush and also find hair brush; pack cooler for Celia; get cheese sticks; bring Keurig (mercy me do NOT forget the coffee); check pinterest for current hair trends and teach self to braid (seriously getting off track here) . I’m making mental notes and biting my fingernails (cursed habit I have when I’m the least bit stressed). And on this Monday morning my plan is interrupted by my beautiful Celia as she dumps her full sippy cup of milk onto her freshly styled outfit and her freshly cut strawberries. And as I hear milk gushing onto the floor I have one glorious revelation: I don’t have it all together!! I wipe up the milk and in that moment God puts me on my knees (literally).
I can overdose on the list making and bring enough extra socks to completely clothe every baby in Black Mountain in case of an emergency, but the blessed truth is still there. What I need as I prepare for the weekend is to have my soul filled to the brim by Jesus himself. That’s the point of the conference.
We’re all coming from different places, some high/happy and others low/lonely. There are areas in all of our hearts where we tend to make lists to cover what we lack and where we put on kind smiles to cover a frenzied daze. We need rest from daily pressures we face. We need fellowship with others, and we need to meet together to worship God. I pray we find that this weekend in Black Mountain. I pray we would take a deep breath and gaze into the truth. Colossians 1:20-23 “He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.”
I want to continue to believe the truth and stand firmly in it. I’m starting my fall staff conference list over right now and here it goes: Thank God I don’t have it all together, relish God’s word, be real when you talk to friends during the weekend, make new friends and be real with them too, make the stupid chex mix already and quit talking about it, pack humidifier (trust me on this one), paint fingernails, quit biting fingernails, get at least one latte from The Dripolator in Black Mountain, abandon the hair braiding endeavor for now, take a deep breath, welcome interruptions and let the pendulum fall where it may.
See you there!
Love,
Jenna Sherard
