You Meet With Me, Under a Sunset Painted Sky

“I’m here to meet with you, come and meet with me.

I’m here to find you, reveal yourself to me.”

-“Meet With Me” by Ten Shekel Shirt

Today was a beautiful day. At a wobbly table outside Starbucks while people were hustling in and out I sat alone, but I wasn’t really alone. Sitting by myself as the sky turned from blue to grey to orange I didn’t feel alone. Under that same sunset painted sky I walked unaccompanied through an almost deserted park at dusk with nothing around but a few runners and the creaking of a swing set. But I wasn’t alone at all. And I knew it. And I felt it. And, what is most astounding, I believed it.

“’Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!’ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

-Psalm 46:10-11

You met me there today at that table and in that park as the world continued to move around me like it always does. As the world was spinning we were changing, You and me. Or, rather, I was changing and You were with me. You don’t change, that’s the beauty about You. You don’t change and Your love that I’ve known for years never changes, You just keep giving me more. More and more, over and over, time and time again. Like today, at that table, in that park. But I change. By Your great mercy I am changed. It is impossible to encounter you and not be changed. Today You met me and changed me right there where I sat, where I walked, as I gazed upon the beauty of the clouds You draped in oranges and pinks and yellows just for me, or so it seemed.

“Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”

-Psalm 33:20-22

I set out to find You today and You revealed Yourself. Was it in the way you painted the sky? Was it in the warm air? Was it in the delicious cup of coffee I consumed? Was it in the words I read in that beautifully articulated love letter You wrote to me? Was it in the surprising feeling of love and contentment and peace that I felt rounding the turns of the path as I walked? Was it in the way I knew exactly what I wanted to say to You and ask of You and give to You? Was it in the way that I felt so clearly that You know me better than I could ever hope to know myself? Yes. To all of the above. I came to meet with You, and You met with me.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

-Psalm 103:1-8

Taylor, Peter, and I Never Wanna Grow Up

I was listening to a song today called “Never Grow Up” by Taylor Swift (yes, I said Taylor Swift) and was shipped off on a long train of thought on what it actually means not to grow up. Believe it or not, I think Miss Swift is on to something. It really would be easier to never grow up. For the record, I believe Peter Pan would also agree with Taylor and I. But what does it really mean to never grow up?

Just the other day I told one of my former teachers that I am refusing to grow up. His response was simply, “good”, paired with a genuine smile that exposed a shadow of nostalgia. There is a simplicity that characterizes being young and we think we have no choice but to let go of that simplicity as we grow up. But I disagree. I don’t think life has to be as complicated as we make it. I think we really can refuse to grow up. Let me tell you why.

First of all, it’s painfully true that life is hard. In her song, Taylor equates growing up with life getting harder and people getting hurt, and I think most people would agree that that is true—that’s why my teacher smiled when I said I refuse to grow up, he knows that growing up also means life getting harder. Now, obviously life can be hard when you are little too, but a lot of little kids don’t have a grasp on how rough the world can really be. When I was little, life was about Barbie’s and Polly pockets and playing in the dirt. Even when hard stuff was happening around me, all I was focused on was the good stuff. So what is my point? Life gets complicated as we grow up. It always was hard, but as we start to grow up, we start to take notice of it. We become aware of the pain and hurt in the world and begin to experience it for ourselves. And it kind of sucks. And we, like Taylor, wish we had never grown up.

But while things get complicated—and there is really no avoiding that because we are human—it can also stay simple if we stay focused on what life is really about at the core of everything. When I watch a complicated movie I have to pause frequently to figure out what is going on so that I can keep the story straight in my head. When I get too caught up on the details I lose focus and become completely lost. I have to simplify it so that I can understand what is really going on. I have to be able to understand the core of the movie before I can notice and appreciate the details the second or third time I see it.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the details that we forget the simplicity of the big picture. We forget the central truth of why we are here. We forget the simplicity of the story we are in and get wrapped up in the specifics. If you are anything like me you tend to make things far more complicated than they need to be. I overanalyze and over think things until I don’t even remember what they were like to begin with. All of a sudden, I am in this cloud of what-ifs and rabbit-trails and tangents and I completely forget what is actually going on. I quickly get pulled off track and turn simple things into complicated messes.

But here’s the thing, life doesn’t have to be so complicated. The heart of the story is actually pretty simple. God loves His people. Boom, that’s it. Everything comes back to that truth; it’s the most fundamental part of the story.

In the garden, before evil entered, Adam and Eve were simply with God. Things were simple for them because they merely lived in His love.

In Mark 1, Jesus says to his first disciples “follow me” and they did. Something people spent years working up to (to be a disciple of a rabbi), and for many never became a reality, was broken down for them into a simple call, and they went.

In Mark 12, Jesus breaks down the entirety of the biblical laws to two commands: love God and love others. Something that people spent their lives arguing over and studying was reduced to two simple statements about extending God’s love.

Do you notice anything here? Humans make things complicated, but God’s love is pretty simple. We keep making a mess and God just keeps trying to make it simple again. Simple like in the garden where all they knew was God’s goodness and love. That’s all we really need to know. That’s the core of the story. That’s what we need to get back to.

When I listened to that song, after embarking on this long road trip in my mind, I heard the words differently. It was almost as if God were speaking them to me saying, “Stop making things so complicated and just let me love you already!” I spend so much time debating and wondering and stressing and worrying and analyzing and thinking that I forget that it really is as simple as that. God loves me, I just have to let Him.

Not growing up doesn’t mean being naïve. It doesn’t mean burying your head in the sand and pretending nothing bad ever happens. It doesn’t mean coasting through life with a fake happiness as if everything in life is always peachy. Not growing up means keeping a grasp on what actually matters. It means clinging to the truth that we are loved by the God of the universe. It means keeping your focus on the big picture and letting life be simple, even when it’s chaotic.

We live in the midst of the mess so it can be hard to see, but God’s love is simple. It’s incredible and huge and radical and powerful, but it’s also simple. So I think I agree with Taylor and Peter Pan on this one. Let’s all just never grow up. Let’s all just let God love us and be His little kids forever.