Today we want to explore those three little words that lead
our purpose and our vision for this space.
Vibrant is a word I have always loved, but honestly one that
I have never found a way to describe or define. I love the word vibrant because
it’s one that only gets pulled out of our back pockets and used in conversation
on very rare occasions. It’s one of those words that we save to use when all of
the other everyday words just won’t quite get across what we are hoping to
convey.
Vibrant is a way that we might describe a color that simply
does not fit within the range of our everyday spectrum. It is the word we might
use for a type of music that isn’t like all of the rest; music that does
something to our soul that no other music ever has before. It’s a word we might
use when referencing a unique mix of spices and seasonings that make up an
entirely new and otherwise indescribable flavor. And it’s the word we might
toss out when a person is all of those things together at the same time; bright
and melodic and full of flavor and spice!
It’s wonderful enough when we encounter colors and flavors
and sounds that are vibrant. They affect us in a different way. They stick with
us. They change our tastes and our ears and our vision. They open our minds to entirely
new realms of possibility and they inspire us to keep seeing the world and
trying new things because we are reminded that there are probably even more
vibrant sounds and views and flavors and textures just waiting to be
discovered.
And if this is the affect that vibrant things can have, imagine the affect that a vibrant person can have! Imagine….all of those
bright, vivid, almost indescribable colors and sounds and flavors that move
your soul, living and breathing and giving life to the very things that were so
difficult to even put into words!
THAT is an incredible thing.
You’ve met those people, right? People who bring warmth and brightness, new shades of
color, new ways of thinking, and new flavors to everything they do, to any and
every situation they are a part of? And whether we want to admit it or not, I
think we all hope and aspire to be one of those people. We want to be the
person who lights up the room and who profoundly affects people for the better.
But what is it that makes them that way?
Where does that
warmth and color come from? How did they become that vibrant person standing in
front of you, bringing new light to everything they touch? How do we become
that vibrant person? And do you ever wonder how all of that life and color
seems to be radiating from them even when it seems it shouldn’t be?
It comes from within.
I know what you’re thinking.
You’re thinking that’s the weakest most cliché answer I
could have possibly given.
Here’s the twist.
It is absolutely true that when we encounter those
fascinating, life altering people they are most certainly radiating something
from within. (“But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart” Matthew 15:16) But the deeper truth is that it has nothing to do
with them. It’s not as if you are either born that way or not. God doesn’t
create vibrant and not vibrant people. He creates each and every one of us with
the potential to become those life-giving, vibrant people. He makes this possible
by giving us the opportunity to know Him and invite Him into our lives. Once He
is a part of us, we are forever changed, because He is a living,
breathing, vividly colorful,
creative, God. And once we are forever changed by His vibrant Spirit, we won’t be able to keep that vibrancy inside!
I am telling you…once you get even a little bit of
that inside of you, every single seam of you is going to burst with joy and
zest and color and song! Life and circumstances don’t change. Other
people may or may not change. You will
change. And not because of anything that you
do, but because of everything that He does
inside of you!
If you want to be one of those people, here’s what you need
to do:
Let Jesus in. Not reluctantly. Invite Him in. And I don’t mean just right inside your little entryway,
I mean really let Him in. Take Him
back to the dirtiest, darkest corners of your heart and tell Him to make
Himself at home. Invite Him grocery shopping and to fitness classes, to
meetings and to coffee dates. Invite him into the room with screaming,
inconsolable children and into your home even when everyone isn’t getting
along.
Let. Him. In.
You cannot be that woman on your own. It’s utterly
impossible. You cannot bake enough cookies or host enough parties or help with
enough charities to become her. Of course we as women will always want to know
what we can do. Well, the pressure is off. There is nothing you can do except to let Him in... to let
Him fully in... and to let Him do whatever He needs to do. Give Him
space to move and to work and to infuse all of that life and color and vibrancy
into your spirit, so that it can begin to radiate from you. Let Him make you the person you have
always dreamed of being and that He created you to be, and then let Him give you
the life that He has always imagined for you (which of course is far better
than the life you have imagined for yourself.)
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