Right Where You Are

I am a mom of two little girls. One is seven years old, the other five. I have the opportunity to partner with my husband in his work, and really enjoy helping him in that regard.

 

My weeks are filled with two different carpool lines, sports in season, laundry, little people playdates, office work, and the list goes on. It’s a beautiful season, one that I am very grateful for, yet one I tend to complicate the idea of being inviting and engaging in.

It’s really a mixed bag of reasons why this is the case – wrong expectations, fear of man, desire to please man, insecurities, preferences, being stuck in the box of what I’ve always known, misplaced responsibility, comparison, selfishness- just to name a few. All of these rear their ugly head in my life far more frequently than I would really like to admit.

I can get bound up when trying to mesh my current season of life and the desire to intentionally invite and engage other women – young and old – in the area of discipleship. I often times view them as though they are at odds. I find myself feeling hindered, focused on the limitations that come with this season rather than the unique opportunities it affords that God has purposefully orchestrated all around me.

“My bent is to think inviting and engaging others has to look a certain way.”

My bent is to think inviting and engaging others has to look a certain way. I get stuck in the box of what I’ve always known, what’s been modeled for me, or what my preferences might be. I can think it has to be in the form of an eight week Bible study, a coffee shop conversation, a Sunday night during Community Group, or time in between services on a Sunday. All of these opportunities are great, but really embracing the capacity of being inviting doesn’t have to fit into a box. We are called to be who we are where we are. That’s living an intentional life of discipleship and being on mission. Having my eyes opened to this reality has freed me up and brought a new sense of intentionality to my day to day.

For moms like me who have little ones at home – What would it look like to create a playdate environment where intentional conversation can take place with the other moms present? How can we engage our children’s teachers and invite them into conversation? Could we take advantage of opportunities to coach our child’s sports team with the intention of engaging the players’ moms? While doing seemingly mundane household duties, what would it look like to invite a college girl to join us and enjoy conversation while the laundry is folded? Maybe it does look like opening our home and facilitating an Ezer study one morning while the kids are at school… or possibly a weekly meeting at Coyote Coffee walking through scripture with a handful of women.

Whatever season we find ourselves in – working Mom, stay-at-home Mom, retired, single, widowed, engaged, empty-nester, etc, there are a few questions I think we all need to consider:

What does my current season look like? 

What are components to my current season that I may need to have new perspective on?

What do I need to view as opportunity rather than hindrance? 

What does engaging and inviting other women for the sake of discipleship look like in my season of life?

Knowing that the ability to be inviting is a unique capacity God has given that He intends to used, let’s put ourselves out there – right where we are –  for the sake of the kingdom. By nature we are selfish people. Let’s be honest. Who doesn’t prefer to have things happen on their time table and according to their preferences?  Just as we heard this past week in Ephesians 4, let’s throw off our old nature and put on the new. What God is up to in this world is far greater than we can comprehend, and it’s absolutely amazing that we get to be a part of it!

-Heather O’Shields, Powdersville