Praying for Fire

I spent most of yesterday waiting for something interesting or inspiring to happen to me so I could begin my blog journey. Fireworks. Or an actual fire because that would be a great story. Or anything, I was waiting for something spectacular. But that’s like sitting down and deciding you are going to write a hit song. It never happens that way. The life-changing songs just happen, they are not usually planned out and they have no regard for album deadlines or obligations. They just come to you in a magical, spiritual moment like washing the dishes and leave you spellbound.

That’s how interesting days happen too. If you are looking for a “good story” the story doesn’t seem to show up. That’s my problem; I am always looking.

I bet for most people it is the other way around though. I bet a million things happen to you a week that are profound, beautiful, funny, and completely honestly just life…but maybe you miss them. Maybe you are not looking for the story. I often wonder if the people in my own stories even know they are in a story or if it is just another part of life that washes over them one day and is forgotten the next? Life seems to be made up of little unspectacular moments that go unnoticed, but when really examined, they are the cornerstones of smiles and beauty and joy.

Come to think of it, that’s the story of Jesus. Nothing spectacular. Born in a barn, a run for his life as a baby, a carpenter by career, a bunch of unsophisticated friends, a criminal’s death, you get the picture. As unspectacular as it all was, his life built, and built, and added up to the most beautiful person we have ever seen. Nothing too dramatic like being a king, or having a military coo; he wasn’t part of the elite, well-traveled, rich; he wasn’t even terribly well-liked. But we still talk about this man 2,000 years later. So I guess unspectacular is not all that bad.

Day Two
That was my day yesterday. Unspectacular Saturday. The night before we played in Van Alystyne, Texas for a show apart from the tour. Home-cooked dinner by the Methodist women. A few hundred kids. And no blazing moments of glory (besides the fact that after the show we went downstairs to find that the 100 year old building had begun to cave in as we played and 400 kids jumped. The ceiling was caving in. You will see it on the next podcast. That scared me a bit). Just a normal, relaxed night with incredibly nice people and a good show.

Yesterday was the same. I mean, what can I say? We drove for a few hours. I took a nap in the conference center. Learned how to play a new card game. Met some great people in Conway, Arkansas. And got incredibly bored and decided to curl my hair. The most exciting part of the day was eating too much Mexican food before the show and promptly running a little seven-year-old girl over as I ran off stage to throw it up afterwords.

It’s funny to me that my prayer for this tour has been rest and consistency and after a day like yesterday I am now praying for a fire. How easily I get bored. God gives me what I ask for, time to rest, and I am insulted that it so very unspectacular.

I am such a conundrum.

Praying that you start this week off looking for the simple, beautiful moments…
your friend searching for something spectacular, like a fire,
jenny