Sharing Intentionally

So I did something this past weekend that I haven’t done in FOUR years. I went to the movies. I think we might have attempted to take our daughter to a movie when she was two, but it did not go well and I don’t remember watching hardly any of the movie. But I promised my daughter, who is now older, that I would take her to see Frozen during her Christmas break from school. With the first day back to school looming ahead, I planned a fun Mommy-Daughter day out for us, something that we don’t get nearly enough. I wasn’t going to tell her that we were going to the movies until we were in the car on the way there (fellow mothers will understand why), but my husband convinced me to tell her the day before. I think he just wanted to see her reaction. Because, of course, “elation” doesn’t begin to describe how excited she was over the thought of going to see Frozen with her Mommy. She squealed, jumped, smiled, twirled, and all those other things that little girls do when they are so excited that they can’t find words to describe how they feel.

For the following twenty four hours, she did exactly what I thought she would do. She talked about Frozen non-stop. We had an hourly count down. And she told EVERYONE what her Mommy was taking her to do. She told her Grandmother, her Granny, her Grandpa, our neighbor, the UPS man, and the lady at the restaurant where we went for lunch. After the movie, she topped that list by re-inventing our entire day out to numerous people.

I watched her animated expressions each time she told the story of the princesses in Frozen and about how we ate popcorn. I saved her little comments in my memory. Our day out meant as much to me as it did to her.

But I also know how this pans out. In a few days, or maybe weeks, she’ll be on to the next thing. The next toy fad. The next birthday party. The next holiday.  She’ll cherish our day together, but we’ll only talk about it every now and again– whenever we stumble across a reminder or hear a song from the soundtrack.

It will be sort of like how I talk about my Faith.

Whenever I think about it. Or stumble across a reminder. Or have a problem that I need to pray about. Sort of like that.

That’s not the relationship with God that I intend to have. But perhaps that’s the problem- if I haven’t “intended” anything, I’m only left with whatever just happens.

I have a million excuses for not telling others about my faith journey, but none of them are very good. I have four kids, I have countless responsibilities, I rarely leave the house, I can count on one hand the number of times that I talk to other adults in a week. Blah, blah, blah.

Those are all second rate excuses. And the last time I checked, the Great Commission didn’t have a fine print excuse clause. There have been so many wonderful things that God has done for me, and it’s pathetic that I treat my faith like a fad or a discussion topic. It’s not a movie or a day out. It’s a lifestyle.

So this year, I resolve to start sharing my faith more– beginning with this blog. My desire is to have a weekly segment where I share spiritual topics and struggles, and where (I hope) my readers chime in with their own thoughts and struggles, too. Maybe along the way we can all rekindle our passion to spread the word about our faith with one another and with those we speak to every day.

I look forward to sharing how God speaks to me through every day life scenarios- like taking a little girl to the movies.

 

Visit {HERE} for Part Two.