The lyrics of the chorus above popped up in my thoughts yesterday.. so I decided to look up the video to see what the whole song says.. it's interesting, how it coincided with one of the talks that the Female Project Director, Lori, gave on Sunday afternoon. She spoke about how women were made as an incarnate Beauty - the crown of God's creation. There are 6 things she borrowed from the book Captivating, that she said beauty does:
Beauty
-Speaks (It says "all shall be well")
- Invites
- Nourishes (feeds, encourages growth)
- Comforts (provides rest)
- Inspires
- Is Transcendent (more than skin deep, calls us to long for more, and reminds us we were made for another place)
and she challenged these college student girls on Summer Project to think through ways that they are embracing this kind of beauty that the Lord has given them. She also encouraged them to see which kinds of beauty they struggled to display - and to ask the Lord, in his Goodness, to grow them in that area..
That was Sunday afternoon.. Sunday morning, as we gathered for the last "Project Church" before the Staff team leaves on the 6th, and all responsibilities of the Project are handed over to the students, Dave (the Male Summer Project Director) challenged the students with the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 (mostly from the version in Matthew).. He took an interesting approach though, and set the stage that is often over looked. He reminded the students that Jesus has just been informed that John the Baptist (Jesus's cousin, most likely a friend) has been put to death. The disciples have just gotten back from their first "mission trips" and are excited, and yet most likely exhausted. Taking all this in, Jesus says that he's going to go to a "desolate place" and has his disciples come with him. And as the crowd of people see Jesus depart in the boat on the lake, they begin to follow him on land - arriving to his destination (of anticipated respite for him) before he does..
And Dave then posed the question - "When life presses in on us, our character is the first thing that gets squeezed out.. What do we see squeezed out of Jesus as he's feeling broken (due to the loss of his cousin/friend/co-laborer) and exhausted (from the disciples needing encouragement after their small missions excursions)?" We see that he 'meets the needs of those present'.. He has compassion.. He tends to them like a good shepherd..
Then Dave asked the students to contemplate, as they are 5 weeks into Project, what is being "pressed out" as they are feeling the "squeeze" of the demands of Project..
It can be hard to process the message for myself as I'm interpreting.. and while I have a wonderful team in Cory, even in the "off" seat as the "back up terp" it is still hard to disengage from the interpreting process. However, this message was similar to the one he gave as a farewell charge to the students last year. Which - consequently - makes it easier for me to maintain more of the message.. annnd for the Lord to convict me about things from the talk..
"What is pressed out of me when I am squeezed by circumstance?"
Beauty? or un-beauty.. (otherwise known as ugly..) ;)
It takes me to a blog entry that I read last year:
"We sit broken and I choke out the ugly words, words that have been there but I have been too appalled to voice.. We sit long and spill the ugly, inadequate tears and we let His light fill up the holes." - here Katie Davis articulates what I often feel here on Project.. I'd like to say "beauty" is what is pressed out of me.. but I know that inwardly that's not the case - especially here on Project. So much ugly - selfishness mostly, vain glory, pain and complaining - comes up in me.. and while I try to suppress it, I'm grateful for it at the same time..
Thus, I'll close with this - the lyrics of the song bring me a muse to meditate on..
"You make beautiful things out of the dust.. You make BEAUTIFUL things out of US"..
*But thanks be to God who delivers us from the ugly, and makes us beautiful*!
That's all I gots.. Thanks for hanging with me..
Soli Deo Gloria
:D
I love that song!
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