Wherever you are, be all there.

            We sit in meetings and check our watches, our tweets, our texts, our calendar app, our to-do list.  At home we feel guilty for not being on the job; on the job we feel guilty for not being at home.  (Or for the stay-at-home mom, we feel guilty for being enslaved by the to-do list rather than playing with the children.  When you relinquish it to play in the yard, you feel tugged away by all the demands inside.)  During supper we think about the clean up, the night-time routine, the exhaustion, the things to do before crashing.  During breakfast we worry about getting to the next thing on time . . .  How often we miss the joy of simple conversation and laughter during supper, miss the chance to sing crazy songs in the car-ride, miss a moment God was trying to teach us something during that meeting, miss the chance to show that person Jesus.

            It was on the car ride after a hectic morning routine of waking the girls, feeding, clothing, brushing teeth, hurrying into the car, that it hit me – maybe not hit me for the first time but hit me harder . . .

            A friend in my church family went to Africa this summer and encountered a missionary who gave her this one line:  “Wherever you are, be all there.”  She brought the line back to me.  Much more succinct than I’ve ever said it, but I’ve been thinking it over for about six years now . . . “How can I be fully present where I am at all times?” 

            Jesus lived it.  On a mission, with purpose, often surrounded by crowds, but never in a hurry. 

            What hit me in the car was this:  “What if I only had one more month to live, but I still had to do all of my daily responsibilities (full-time mom, part-time ministry job) within that month?  What would I do differently than what I’m doing right now?”  Certainly, I wouldn’t want my girls remembering a mother who just rushed them out of bed, to breakfast, to car, to drop them off—all in one hurried blur.  If I still had to go to work and my elder child still had to go to her “school” (home school program 2 days a week)—in other words, if I still had to be away from them for several hours several days a week—with what would I want to leave in their precious little memories.  I would want them to remember a mother who woke them with a smile, who had kindness on her lips, who cooked them a yummy breakfast, and who encouraged them even if their bodies were still sleepy and minds foggy.  Love – that’s what I want them to remember.

            Practically speaking, then, how can I be fully present where I am at all times?  I haven’t mastered it yet, but here’s what I’m aiming for:

1. Slowing down where I can.  How?

-          Being realistic about what I can accomplish in a given period of time.  (Of course, this is my hardest one.  I’m forever the optimist.)

-          Not being too proud to receive help.  (God doesn’t call us to do family or ministry alone.  In fact, that’s the opposite of what God wants for us.)

-          Not being too proud to say “no” when I can’t do it all.  (Yes, for people-pleasers and performers, it’s a pride issue.)

2. Paying attention to the blessings in the moment.  (Learned this one from Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts.  LOVE her blog too; she writes about this slowing down often.)  Naming the gifts.  (I’m on #899 – writing down thanks to God.)
   
   
3. Praying for spiritual eyes to see what’s most important—the one thing needed. 

-          “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “You are worried and upset about many things,  but few things are needed—or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42 NIV).

I have so far to go.  Tell me, how do you live this line – “Wherever you are, be all there”?  Don’t be shy.  Leave a comment for those of us who need it!