Over and over he has reminded me that the people we interact with and the people he puts in our way, the dejected, the pained, the broken, the annoying, the liars, the harassed, the needy, they ALREADY have dignity. We don't give them dignity when we love them, we attempt to show them the dignity He has already given them. In reading the story of Mary and Martha most recently, he reminded me that people are more important than plans, they're more important than details, they're more important than social media (Luke 10:38-42).
Even the little people he has given me in the past two years, they are SO MUCH more important than ALL of the other things I find to do. More important than the dishes, the laundry, my Facebook feed, TV shows, movies. Our life should be about the people around us. Above anything else, he reminded me over and over that people matter, and that my life was increasingly lazy when it came to people, and intentionally loving them.
In my times walking away from Christ, there was a poem that always got to me. It reminded me that life was more than the things we do or our situation. It reminded me that our lives each meant more than the every little detail of our day. And it speaks to people to remind them of their worth. The author isn't a Christian author, and it isn't a Christian poem. But it is a poem meant to reach out to the outcast, the dejected, the people on the outside... the exact people we are supposed to love. It encourages the hearer to embrace the story you live, and have the courage to keep living. It seeks to remind people of their worth and dignity. If you are interested, you can listen to it here or you can read it (if you are like me and you can't focus on listening) here. The problem with it, of course, is that the point of life from a perspective like this is only to do it. To keep living your life just because the poet is telling you to. In a Christian life, it is because God is your joy and your peace, and you can live beyond what has happened in your life because He has saved you and overcome. You can push on because your life isn't about you, if becomes about Him.
For a couple of years, I've allowed dust to settle in my life. I have grown comfortable with the life I live, I've allowed myself to grow stagnant in my relationship with God, and seeking him in my prayer life and in my quiet time. I've let dust settle on my relationships with friends, family, and most of all with my little ones. As the New Year begins, I feel like God is calling me to this. To Shake the Dust from my relationship with him, to shake the dust from my prayer life, to shake the dust from the relationships with the people around me, so that I can live a life about Him, and run fully along the path he has marked for me. So my phrase for the year is "Shake the Dust". In all I do, I want to push forward, and not let dust settle because of inaction or laziness. :]
