The difference was astounding.
Tuesday I walked into a thrift store to pass some time while my dogs were being groomed down the street. Well, to pass time AND to treasure hunt for things that were begging for a “little lovin'”.
Normally, I find this experience very relaxing. A chance to go into my own little world and let my creative freak flag fly with countless possibilities sitting on shelves of abandoned discards.
Tuesday was not that day.
All around me was a sort of visual and auditory chaos. Elevator music clashing with the incessant tune of a music box wound up again and again by a child who’s mother added her own noise by yelling at said child who was clearly not listening. (Let that run-on sentence emphasize the aforementioned chaos.) Announcements were blaring over the loudspeaker, offering help and special deals, a mumbled and garbled message that only added to the noise pollution in my head.
And all I really wanted at that moment was to get the heck out of there.
But my ears were not the only things bombarded by unwanted, unrelenting noise.
Fluorescent lights clashing with ugly gray walls were the background for the strange mayhem surrounding me. Too many carts, too narrow aisles. Too many choices and not enough time. Undiscovered treasures buried too deep beneath useless junk.
On any other day, these challenges would only serve as fuel to my fire of digging.
But Tuesday was not that day.
Instead, I felt like every protective filter inside my brain was shut down. Things rushed in from every side, no sight barred, no sound muted. This loud menagerie of random people, things and noise.
Sensory overload.
(Just to be clear, it didn’t end up stopping me from finding the mother lode of treasures 🙂 )
That was Tuesday afternoon.
From this experience I dashed home, trying to clear the fog left in my mind. Because in just a few short hours my home would be the place of random people and noise.
The 20’s and 30’s singles group was coming over.
Mark and I were asked to lead this newly emerging and thriving group. Abby’s peer group and community. People the age of our own kids.
Tuesday night would be our first night together.
I can’t explain the excitement of anticipation I felt. I just knew God was going to do something amazing!
It would seem that it would fall on the same spectrum as what I had just experienced at the thrift store.
Random people.
Random noise and conversation.
Sensory overload.
But nothing could have been further from the truth.
Twenty-five personalities behind twenty-five beautiful faces showed up at our door. Twenty-five different stories from twenty-five different stations of life.
Twenty-five voices.
Twenty-five passions and dreams.
Twenty-five hearts coming together in the unity of one goal – to know Jesus more deeply and to experience true community.
And suddenly, as I sat and looked at this vibrant group, there was nothing random about this combination of people and noise at all. Twenty-five suddenly felt more like just one.
No filter in my mind was needed to sort out the combination of beautiful voices sharing, laughing, crying. No filter needed for the array of beauty, both physical and spiritual, going on before my eyes.
Just joy and wonder and immense gratitude for the privilege of being a part of it all.
Amazing how Jesus can take things so vast in differences, so random with diversity and arrange them into a gorgeous bouquet, alive with passion and hope. Bound together by crazy, amazing love. Fragrant with possibility and purpose.
The difference between my afternoon and evening experience on Tuesday was profound.
And I can hardly wait ’til next Tuesday…:-)
1 Corinthians 12:12 – The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 14:33 – For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people.
Matthew 18:20 – For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.
