What would it look like, if everyone in the world decided to put aside all pre-conceived notions about each other, and simply treated one another with equal, genuine curiosity about the other? What if we all slowed down and really allowed ourselves to FEEL, and to embrace every moment as they came, and embraced every person we encountered along the way? We would have a whole lot less people who felt overlooked, and a whole lot more color in our lives. The hunger pangs for love and understanding would be significantly less. We would slowly begin bridging the gap in between nations, religions, and lives. It would be beautiful.
This is a truth that I am really starting to realize the depth of just how real this is. We need to be present, and aware of life as it passes us by. The magnitude of which life is enjoyed is determined by a series of choices that we make each and every day. I experienced this first hand, and the amazing feeling that I received solidified this truth even more.
One day, while at our hostel in Bali, I sat outside drinking some coffee, people watching (one of my favorite past times..seriously..it’s great), when I heard some guitar music and an extremely smokey, soul filled voice singing. Like a fly to a lightbulb, I was pulled in. Live music is one of those alluring things in life, that set my heart on fire and remind me of just how it feels to be alive. Especially this. This was so good. So, I decided to go, and sit down in the restaurant that this music was coming from, to just listen.
It was beautiful.
Not only was it beautiful to just sit there, and do something by myself that I enjoyed whole heartedly, but it quickly became an incredibly magic filled night with the people that were brought into my path, simply because I was open to receiving it, and God had something he wanted to say. There was a Balinese waitor that kept glancing over at me as we would exchange appreciative nods and smiles with each other in response to the music, that soon turned into a full blown conversation. It got very real and very raw really quickly, all because we both unofficially agreed to not speak with any filters, walls, or preconceived notions about the other. Both of us, right away skipped the small talk, and went right to the topics of enjoying music, life, and then eventually got on the topic of knowing God. Though we spoke about two different Gods, there were aspects about both our beliefs that were parallel with each other. Love, being one of the main things. There were commonalities, and differences, some pretty big. But that wasn’t the point. God showed up in that moment, because there was just so much realness, and an openness on both ends. He listened about my beliefs on God, and began asking me questions, showing a real interest in what I had to say. It was simply a sharing between the two of us. There were no alterior motives, other than a genuine interest, stemming from love in our hearts. I shared with him some very real lessons that the Lord had shown me in regards to pain and darkness in the world. We got onto topics of terrorism, and famine in the world, (like I said, it got real)! We got onto the topic of evil, and why God would create it. He seemed extremely hurt, and effected emotionally by some of the hard facts of life. Through that, I was able to share some of my story with him, and the truths that God has revealed to me to ease my pain and induce healing in MY heart. It was so raw, and so cool to be able to speak into his life the way that I was. He listened intently, and was deeply moved, to the point of tears. It was all incredibly surreal.
Later, I got asked to sing by the musician playing. For those of you who know me, this is one of my love languages. Music makes me so happy, and getting to sing live, in an empty restaurant, except for the Australian family that had trickled in simply made me gleeful. I was flying inside. It was simple joy that I felt, and effortless freedom just being in that moment. It kept on getting even better as the night progressed too, because then I met this Muslim woman, who so happened to be the wife of the musician. Sitting down with both of them, as he finished singing quickly became a comfortable conversation between seemingly longtime friends. Without any discomfort, we chatted it up, laughing, and going into depth about skydiving, heights, this trip I’m on, and eventually…God. Again, we had different views in some ways, but also found so many similarities, once again, love being at the core of it all. I felt so much clarity in this moment. Of course, it’s just all about love.
The night continued with three, vibrant, middle aged women floating in. Laughing, slightly buzzed, and giddy as all can be, they were vibrating with so much life. Though I still saw pain in them, from lives naturally tainted by the struggles of life, I also saw the fight in them to make the most of every moment that they were going to run into. They became overwhelmed with so much childlike happiness when they saw that there was a musician playing live music, and didn’t hesitate to request that he play the song “imagine” by John Lennon. They then, proceeded to ask me to sing it with them. Of course! Some of the lyrics were, “imagine all the people, living for today. Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do”. My heart sang louder than my mouth could in this moment. It was such a gorgeous, and pure moment. The lyrics seemed to be telling the nights story. Then, it got even better. We began dancing barefoot together, all of us. The Muslim woman, the 3 women who came in, the waitor, and a newly wed Indian couple who soon came in shortly after the song began.
In that moment, it really dawned on me. I am not required to “change” anyone’s mind about who God is. I am not supposed to have an agenda when speaking to someone, and life is meant to be lived openly and with the intention of experiencing moments like this, complete, unedited, pure bliss. It isn’t my job to impose anything on someone. I simply, through the act of living in the freedom of knowing that we are all on the same playing field called life, can help to attract and create an atmosphere of love, and then to glorify God through it. I have heard before that we draw to us what we reflect back out into the world and in this moment, I saw that as truth. Even more so, I recognize it now as being led by the spirit of God. Moments like these make him happy. It brings him joy to see us, his children from all around the world dancing, and singing together. He is love, he is creativity, and he is the creator. Moments like these, if we let them in, bring us to a place of remembrance of his heart, and the pureness of how it can manifest into an unfolding of a beautiful life. We don’t need to force his love, we simply need to live in it as his children together. He will do the rest.
Thank you for reading my blogs, and please donate to me if you are able. I am still short $5,000. I love you all!! 🙂 🙂
