I'll admit that I am a hopeless romantic to the core. I would take sentiment and chivalry over grandiose presents or boastful acts of love any day. It all comes down to heart for me, that want for an intimate connection. What really allures me isn't a bright sign over his head that says, "Pick me! Notice me!" it's the subtle things about him that make him loud. The way he humbly serves with everything he has or isn't afraid to sit and talk about how the Lord is moving instead of being worried about being entertaining enough or maintaining a certain persona.
Don't worry, it's not a personal ad, there's a point, I promise.
If you really get down to it, most people are enticed in the same way, each with their own specifics. They want to be pursued, male or female, they don't want to be charged at with everything you have. After all, all that leaves them with is a mere shell of who you are, only a glimpse, not the wholeness of who you are.
What makes you? What moves you? What spurs you?
I've found that the streets of Penang are filled with people just like me.
Each person in pursuit, wanting to meet a greater desire….
These streets scream at you. They go full throttle. They give it everything they've got and then try to throw in a little more because it's still just not over the top enough. Bright lights, loud music, dancers, advertisements, pushers, tourists everywhere, bar, after bar, after bar. For them it's all about presentation, perfection, persistence.
I found myself walking the streets last night in utter astonishment. Not only does this particular community thrive in such a way, but there are countless others that buy into it. But why?
Because they are romantics too, they want that intimacy. They can't help it, the Lord put that at the core of each and every one of His children.
Only they are romanticized by the flashy, the fleshly, the bright, the boisterous, the calamity, the chaos. Every single thing these streets have to offer they want. They want as much as they can get, as fast as they can get it, as long as they can get it. So badly they want all the wrong things, but they are going about it in all the right ways.
Night after night they are disciplined enough to step on the streets and continue pursuing something they are sure is out there for them. That will fill them. Satisfy them. Meet them where they are. They don't charge the streets hoping to soak it in all at once and that be enough. They come back again and again to see what other part of them can be quenched.
If only we could show them how to turn such a disciplined lifestyle of seeking and pursuing into something of worth. A lifestyle that taught them how to continue asking for more because God is good and He will gladly give it. A lifestyle that screams intimacy because our Father begs to not just be sought after, but found. A lifestyle that meets them where they are, relationally, not physically.
There's such a lesson to be learned on both sides.
On our side, we can learn what a truly disciplined pursuit looks like. Stepping out time and time again asking God to show us where He's going to meet us each day. Not being satisfied until we've asked and received. Never being satisfied with just a taste of His goodness.
On their side, they can learn how to be satisfied from the inside out. Learning that everything they hope to find in another human will always pale in comparison to what our Father has to offer. Being rewarded for their persistence with a truly intimate connection to God.
My prayer as I stepped on those streets last night were, "Father, show me that I'm not any better than they are. We are both your children; we both need our Father. Make me what they need to see to see you."
He met me there, He spoke softly, He swept me away.
