Where Ever You Are, Be All There
I believe that is a quote from the martyred missionary Jim Elliot. I love how it says such a profound thing in just 7 words. I wish I could do that. “Which that?” you might ask. The say profound things in just 7 words or the be all there where ever I’m at? YES! to both.
Being around very small children again (my youngest son is 6 and my granddaughters are both 2), I’m reminded that children are masters at profound statements in just a few words. My 6 year old stated just the other day that I was “his best mom ever in the whole tired world!” How did he know that I and the rest of the world are so very tired? A profound insight I do believe.
But what I’d really like to master these days is that “being all there” thing. I’m a pro at being somewhere and not all there at the same time. Like when I’m driving in the car and my brain is somewhere else entirely for a long period of time. The next thing I know 20 minutes have passed and I’m at least 20 miles further down the road and I don’t remember driving a single moment of it. I was off somewhere else. Granted, the drive up Highway 231 from Rensselaer to DeMotte is boring, but not being “fully there” when I’m driving can be dangerous.
There are some places in my life right now that aren’t boring but they are painful. I don’t want to be fully present to those painful situations. I want to be somewhere else. But as I went for my Saturday morning run, God reminded me that He can and will work those things for good. And He wants me to trust in that truth so much that I can be fully present, all there, not holding back or hiding or tucking my heart away whenever I am in those painful places.
All there. Where ever I am. Because He is right there with me.
Where ever you are, be all there.
Holly