I love the springtime. I love flowers and walks and reading on the porch. I love fresh, healthy food and disc golf and farmers markets. I love Easter and Easter candy. I just do. It doesn't get better than the peanut butter to chocolate ratio in a Reese's egg. But what I really love about spring is settling.
Settling is a concept I just came up with about six minutes ago. This isn't the kind of settling where you go to Taco Bell because Taqueria del Sol is too crowded. This is the kind of settling that happens when your belly is full and there's a tiny breeze and Total Wine's free wine tasting is calling your name from a 15 minute walk away. You're just settled.
I've read a couple books today that have me feeling both inspired and raw. I want to get settled this spring. I want to really do life well. My friend Rach lent me her copy of Love Does a few (eight) months ago and I finally started it today. I've only read the first few chapters, but Bob already has me so ready to love actively. I was reading about being present and alive and fun, and all I could think was "Man, I was made to do this!" I was made to love well and with abandon. And then I started my homework for small group just a few minutes ago. We picked things that make us live well, things that light our hearts up, and for me that's reading on the porch with a beer. Challenge accepted. And as I read Shauna talking about her home team, I realized that another part of settling in this spring is going to be narrowing my focus.
The past few days have been hard. I always come off a high when friends leave town, have a tiny crisis, and then rally. But rallying has been hard this time. There are things I want to be doing that I just can't do right now. I'll have one part of the puzzle but not the rest, and it's getting increasingly frustrating. So part of this season (literal and metaphorical) is going to be focusing my field of vision on right now. How can I love well right now? Who is my home team and how do I love them well? How do I get past the fear of doing the important things poorly? Because being great at things that don't matter is far worse than failing at something great. Bob taught me that. And trying to give my time to people who don't need it, instead of devoting myself to the people I can call in the middle of the night, is worse still. Shauna says I should "try to think about the things only I can do, and only do those." It's about settling and ordering and being extravagant with the love I already have. And yes, it's about expanding and exploring and serving in new places with new people. But those should be chosen wisely.
So, if you're on the home team get ready. And chances are, you are. We're going big this season.
