God has taught me a lot of things over this past year and awakened my heart in so many ways to understanding just a tiny glimpse of his love for me, the beauty of who He is and through all of that, the word the comes to mind every time I want to describe him is extravagant.
Webster's dictionary defines extravagance as exceeding the limits of reason or necessity and extremely or excessively elaborate.
While that defines something over-the-top, it still seems so small in trying to truly describe who God really is. By the very simple act of creation He is the ultimate artist. He could have just made day end and night begin with no crescendo at all, like a simple light switch, but when you witness a sunset that seems to capture the whole sky in various shades of bold hues, you witness his extravagance. He created the seasons, which in and of itself is magnificent, but snow could simply be tiny white clusters with no shape or form, yet he made each flake its own unique masterpiece unlike any other. It just begs the question, if God was so extravagant in the details of creation, mankind in particular, then why do we constantly overlook his extravagance in every moment of our lives?
This past Friday I went on a retreat with 50+ other people my age without knowing a single person. It was intimidating, made me feel 12 all over again and the inevitable awkwardness wasn't something I was particularly excited about. I also knew it was a door God had opened and I needed to step through. The one thing I've been asking Him repeatedly over the last few months since I moved is for just one good friend. I left an incredible community in Nashville and starting over has been a lonely and overwhelming process, but I knew that it required movement on my part. I prefer baby steps, but in his extravagant fashion, God usually asks for leaps ;).
In one conversation over the weekend, a girl said, "that was really brave of you to come without knowing anyone." And I thought to myself, "I don't feel brave." The more I thought about that I realized that chances are if you feel brave you're probably doing something stupid, and if you're being brave, you probably feel terrified. As Nelson Mandela says,
While that defines something over-the-top, it still seems so small in trying to truly describe who God really is. By the very simple act of creation He is the ultimate artist. He could have just made day end and night begin with no crescendo at all, like a simple light switch, but when you witness a sunset that seems to capture the whole sky in various shades of bold hues, you witness his extravagance. He created the seasons, which in and of itself is magnificent, but snow could simply be tiny white clusters with no shape or form, yet he made each flake its own unique masterpiece unlike any other. It just begs the question, if God was so extravagant in the details of creation, mankind in particular, then why do we constantly overlook his extravagance in every moment of our lives?
This past Friday I went on a retreat with 50+ other people my age without knowing a single person. It was intimidating, made me feel 12 all over again and the inevitable awkwardness wasn't something I was particularly excited about. I also knew it was a door God had opened and I needed to step through. The one thing I've been asking Him repeatedly over the last few months since I moved is for just one good friend. I left an incredible community in Nashville and starting over has been a lonely and overwhelming process, but I knew that it required movement on my part. I prefer baby steps, but in his extravagant fashion, God usually asks for leaps ;).
In one conversation over the weekend, a girl said, "that was really brave of you to come without knowing anyone." And I thought to myself, "I don't feel brave." The more I thought about that I realized that chances are if you feel brave you're probably doing something stupid, and if you're being brave, you probably feel terrified. As Nelson Mandela says,
So, I fought the fear, the awkwardness, the insecurity and uncertainty. And I once again witnessed God's extravagance. Extravagance through meeting people and within 5 minutes having God-stirring conversations. Extravagance in a near perfect day on the ski slopes filled with laughter, great conversations, majestic views and ending with an incredible time of prayer together as we drove back to the lodge. Extravagance in times of powerful worship. Extravagance in the teaching that was shared and the vulnerability of a group of strangers. Extravagance in spending a quick weekend with a group of people I'd never met before and walking away knowing I had not only made one friend, I'd made many. I'd found community, left behind insecurity and took home hope."I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
"Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." Ephesians 5:2 MSGMy prayer is that my eyes only grow wider in witnessing his extravagant love, grace and faithfulness in my life and in the lives of those around me so that I don't miss a moment, and that I learn from his example and live a life that loves others extravagantly in return.
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