Inspired

I love laughing, and one person I really enjoying laughing with is my daughter.

Last weekend, I was taking pictures of her for her college graduation announcement. We started by an old oak by our deck and ended up at a small walking bridge at a pond below our house. She was standing and sitting in different positions on the bridge. I thought I'd try to get what I thought would be a really cool picture by focusing the shot through some of the tall grasses at the edge of the pond.

Okay, go ahead and guess what happened next.

Yep, I ended up in the pond. I was on my side, left leg submerged in the muddy sludge, and holding my camera high to save it from water damage. I couldn't get up, and Sarah could barely help because we were both laughing so hard.

As I write this post today, I'm realizing how inspired I am by many young women. Some of those include those of you who shared your stories and perspectives for my last post. Another is my daughter.

She came to Christ at a young age, but I knew by her many questions that she was totally serious. Over the next years, I continued to be challenged by her questions and thoughts about the world and God. Now that she is about to graduate from college later this month, I can tell you it hasn’t let up.

No, she isn’t perfect. I know that and she knows that. But what I see is that she tackles life with a full realization that at the end of herself she finds God’s great intervention. She’s not afraid to be challenged by the hard stuff and to be confronted by the frailties of her human nature in the face of God’s presence in each circumstance. She longs to hear God’s voice as a whisper or a roar—however he wants to speak—but most often she is listening while she is serving. Like many of her generation, she is passionate about people and causes beyond the borders of her own culture and experience, but she operates out of a determination not to make any cause a god.

She wouldn't claim that her faith is unshakeable, but it is real—very real. So her relationship with God is amazingly deep. And that inspires me. Every day I'm thankful for the many like her who are rooted deeply and doing whatever it takes to grow in their faith and be open and available to make a difference in this broken world.

By the time I was the age she is now, or perhaps the age you are, I had not been a Christian long. I don't wish for a second any different beginning to my walk in Christ. For where I was in my young faith, God was working in me and using me too.

As you commit to his transforming work in you, God will work in you and use you probably more powerfully than anything I've known. Keep asking questions, growing deep, and sharing what he's doing in you.

And don't forget to laugh along the way! Join me at the pond.

Jan

http://www.jankern.com/
http://www.choose2livefree.com/ (launching soon!)