on invitation

In the busy noise of the world, where is God issuing those ancient invitations to come, to follow, to rest, to join?

Where might God already be working, waiting for us to join in? 

In the busy noise of the world, where is God issuing those ancient invitations to come, to follow, to rest, to join? 

God is not in the disembodied business of making machines, constructed creations with steel plates and metal rods, wiring and electricity. Rather, since the beginning, God touches us with a Spirit that moves and breathes, forming us into beings with brains and bodies that listen, speak, taste, smell, feel, remember, and connect with our Maker and each other. 

Even in the first garden, before the launch of civilization as we know it, God valued walking in the cool of the day with people that loved him, not out of coercion but out of genuine desire. Since then, God is calling his creation back to the garden, inviting us to return to a life of resurrection if we are willing to accept it. 

As we see time and again, God refuses to force us to act in a way that we don't want to. So instead, like an unnoticed spring wind, God slips into our ordinary days, in our simple routines and our complicated fears, drawing near when we are too afraid to answer the voice calling out in the night. As in the very beginning, the Spirit hovers over the deep places of our own soul, in the middle of our brokenness, and exhales new mercies upon us as the sun rises, making and re-making us every day. 

The Spirit of God is ever reaching out a hand of invitation to step into those places where the Spirit is already moving. Because God values our friendship, our transformation and our love more than our blind obedience, God becomes our strength and our grace, drawing near and asking us simply to join in. 

What would it look like if we chose to respond to God's presence with generous participation, crossing thresholds of faith and trusting God to meet us on the other side? How would this change the way we hope, the way we grieve, the way we love our neighbor, the way we love our God?

May we pay generous attention to God's faithful presence, and when we hear God's gracious invitation, may we say yes, again and again.