It’s time to introduce you to the women I have the honor and joy of leading!
I want you to see a part of my every day, and the biggest part of my every day is interacting with these six women- getting to disciple and be discipled, listening, laughinggg, encouraging and challenging them, and learning from their lives as I watch them transforming into Love.
We are Team Hygge, pronounced hue-guh. It’s a danish word, and it can be described as meaning “an art of creating intimacy.” In my own words, and adding my own experience of spending time with this band of warm-hearted women, I would say it’s a feeling of your soul being wrapped in warm blankets (which is good because it’s beginning to get verrryy cold here). Hygge is the inviting coziness of home; there isn’t a hurried spirit from one moment to the next, there’s peace and enjoyment for the right here right now. Hygge is unconditional love and honest conversations with kind company!
You are welcome here, welcome home!
At the end of our first month here, Paige had the idea for us to bring specific pieces of encouragement to every person on our team. We took the time to write out on notes how we see the Light in each other, and then we all sat down together to speak them out. It’s becoming a monthly tradition, and we are about to do this again on Friday. The words that I’m sharing with you today to describe each woman on my team are words that the Lord gave me during this activity the first time. After sharing these words with my team, I want to invite you into how the Lord sees them as well.
MACKENZIE
EVERGREEN
You have a spirit of steady perseverance. You are sincere and genuine and constant in who you are. Evergreen trees often display their strength and resilience even in the winter. They are also constantly standing on thousands of discarded pine needles. We always think of life when we look at Evergreen trees, but the Lord has pointed out to me that they also vulnerably display parts of the parts of themselves they have put to death as their pine needles lay on the ground. There is a story there- they are not hiding. Even in their steadfast life, evergreens are dying and being made new, dying and being made new. Here is where strength and vulnerability work together. I did a little searching after hearing this word, and I liked this piece of something I read about evergreens, “these plants are semi-deciduous, meaning they lose their old leaves immediately as the new ones grow.” You are being made new, all the time.
VAL
FREEDOM
You let others into your unbridled joy by being authentically yourself. You do not put pressure on us to join you, and yet we are always invited in. I believe the Lord is inviting you into even greater freedom this year, and that it’s a heart posture you will embrace in full. You will have an increased ability to freely invite others into who you are- not only in the depth of joy and dancing, but also into the depth of sorrow and mourning. You will not be a burden. You are a gift. Jesus is beckoning you into freedom, and that is something to dance about.
EMI
ARMED
You are not powerless. You are powerful. You used to carry arms of defense and you don’t have to anymore. You have been unmasked by love and invited into the family of God. What was meant to destroy you (lies) has been transformed into your weapon of destruction (truth). It’s bringing now the destruction of dead things and tearing down the face of falsity. Truth is yours. You are armed and equipped to fight not only for others but for yourself also. For you shall know The Truth, and The Truth shall set you free. Jesus is The Truth, and Him you know indeed.
SUMER
FRIEND
You remind me of the greatest friend I have, the Spirit of God. You are someone who’s presence carries the coziness of home. Your smile is inviting for others to join in your joy. You are a good friend because God is a good friend. A good friend is also a good leader. In your friendship, you lead others into who God is. He is equipping you to walk in creative love (the art of creating intimacy).
PAIGE
UNDIVIDED
The word that came to mind when I thought of you is loyalty. You are faithful, you are reliable, you are trustworthy. We posses these characteristics by unity with the Spirit of God. You are undivided in your loyalty, sold out for the kingdom of Heaven. You bring unity to our team through your ability to see what doesn’t belong and call it back into alignment with the kingdom of God. Your discernment is a difference maker. Your undivided heart is an atmosphere changer, treasured by God.
KYLAH
COURAGE
Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is “cor”. It’s the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms the word courage meant “to speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” you’re asking for boldness, and you won’t lose the soft parts of yourself as you really learns what it means to be brave.
HYGGE
HOSPITALITY
All of you are women of hospitality. You are generous with your hearts. Thank you for the steps you are taking and have taken to create a safe and inviting space. I encourage you to boldly bring all of yourself into this home of ours. Your hospitality, your ability to invite others in equally and whole-hardheartedly, is a gift to our church and to the world. In the little and the big things, I see this in you and I am thankful for you.
notes!
songs that remind me of Team Hygge:
Verses that remind me of Team Hygge:
“But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
-2 Cor 3:16-18
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to you call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
-Ephesians 4:1-6
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
-Hebrews 10:24-25
Thank you for reading about my little family! They’re really weird and brave and I love them a whole lot.
(For further reference of what my time here looks like, I wrote a blog during the summer describing my role as an Alumni Team Leader hand in Hand.)
Love,
Aidyn Moranne
