“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact. And that is everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it-you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”
-Steve Jobs
Man I love that quote by Steve Jobs! It's so simple to get caught up in the mixed messages this world tells us- for me to work in a field I love, but also to be a great wife, but also be a great mom, all while getting ample rest and participating in some daily self care and making the time for close friends, and family, and my church, and my community. I get frazzled just thinking about it. Jeeshe!!
But the truth of the matter is- everything is all made up. And also it is made up by people no smarter than me. No one knows everything there is to know on this planet (well, except God maybe). Life is a grand experiment!
What if we treated life like a grand science experiment? Imagine having no fear of failure, just learning lessons in what works, what kind of works, and what really doesn’t work each and every day. To my nerdy brain, it sounds like so much fun! Almost like back in third grade when we dissected those Lima beans to learn there is an entire minature world right inside that teeny bean.
But somewhere along the way between that third grade science experiment and the realities of adulthood I learned to become skeptical. I became guarded due to my experiences and the world around me. I began to place myself in a neat little cozy box of comfort and safety. I began to look at myself and the world around me with a lense of scrutiny and criticism.
Side step with me for a minute...
Have you ever been to a gym or fitness center before? You know that place with the treadmills, ellipticals, heavy weights, and contraptions you feel so awkward and so out of place for even standing next to them, more awkwardly, while reading how to use the darn machine?
Have you ever seen anyone walk into the gym and say something like "These people are all hypocrites! Just look at them, they are in the gym and they aren't even in shape! They are so not fit and many of them even jiggle"?
Naw- you wouldn’t ever hear that. We go to the gym to get fit. The gym is filled with tons of people who are out of shape, weak, and jiggly. These people are trying to become healthier versions of themselves.
So why do we do this with our faith and the church? Why do we see a room full of hypocrites in church pews and walk away? Why do we tell ourselves “I’m not going there, it’s full of broken people who don’t really know Jesus, or if they do they certainly don’t act like it”.
My goodness- we need to treat the church just like we do the gym. We need to see church as a place of healing. The church is filled with broken, selfish, sinful people who are trying to become healthier versions of themselves.
What if we treated church like an experiment? What if we decided that instead of putting a mask on and pretending everything is okay, we let a few people in on what's really going on in our lives and then received prayer over it?
What if in this experiment we act like children and truly study the gospel, and then learn something from it? What if we give worship, kids ministry, a small group, or a church dinner group a try and learn what works for us, what doesn't, and what really doesn't?
At the end of the experiment, we will have learned something. We will learn how to flex our faith muscles and how to push through our fears and re-learn that none of us is truly any smarter or better than the other.
The more we flex, the less we jiggle? Hahaha! Naw- the more we flex the more faith we accumulate. The more experiences (or experiments) we have the more knowledge we gain. In this we will encounter more blessings and more miracles and more mountains our God will move through us, and in us, and for us.
So be a part of that grand experiment… it’s time for you to check out church again! Taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).
Whether you have messed up, royally screwed up, feel shame, have been hurt in the past, or maybe even if you jiggle a little (or a lot) when you walk… God has something for you. Let's be kids again and just try. After all, it's all made up anyway ;)
