Did y’all see the BIG glasses I wore recently? If not, the pics are below and on Instagram. Oh my, the silliness that happens when you grab these strange things on your way out the door.

You see, we attended this fabulous appreciation event for volunteers at our church Saturday night. On the agenda was fantastic food from a local fancy restaurant, lip syncing, prize-winning, and dressed-up fun. Attendance was highly encouraged week after week.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure we could go, much less that we would go. My husband and I have both volunteered in a few seemingly small ways, especially compared to the contributions of others.

Daddy D’ did the majority of work and planning for a new deck, created especially for the homeless community gathering at Mosaic Church Austin. I’ve been working in the background on ministry pertaining to emotional care. Because we felt our contributions were small, and because we wanted to make sure there was room for those who served in more demanding capacities, we waited until just a few days beforehand to sign up.

“Dress up as your favorite movie character!” they said. Or, be red carpet ready.

I was a little underwhelmed at the thought of what to wear. We worked all day on cleaning at home because we’ve recently committed to deep cleaning as a family every 3rd Saturday.

We also commit to family fun after cleaning, so attending this event meant talking about it with our teens and offering to do something fun on Friday night instead. A local festival made it easy for us to find fun as a family and create a few memories before getting into the nitty-gritty of “a family who works together, stays together.”

Ok, that’s not the actual saying. And honestly, it’s rarely been true for our family, but it’s working for us in this season. And all the parents said, HALLELUJAH, it is possible!

Down to the wire, I had to find something to wear and only fit into a small portion of my closet right now. Miraculously, this black dress still fit and looked the best out of my other options. So, red carpet ready was the way to go.

Daddy D’ put on a gold shirt with a few flashy accessories. He even drew in a bizarre mustache over his scruff. I’d succumbed to us both doing the best we could do at the last minute. On the way out the door, I found my son’s huge, goofy glasses and grabbed them on a whim.

For the duration of our car ride to church, I wore these, danced to tunes provided by Minions, and shot non-chalant glances at those who had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting at the same stoplights.

Silliness is not my normal mode of operation. Even so, it does come out every now and then. Lately, it’s coming out with greater intentionality because I’m choosing to seek new ways of experiencing joy as a gift of Jesus.

I’ve been learning to let go of things in my life and grab ahold of others. Even when it means God practically has to pry my hands open.

Each area of holding and releasing must have to do with me becoming more me, the way God intended me to be. In addition, they include embracing more of who God is so I can be a better reflection of Him.

God is a big God. A really, really, really big God. Do you know this? Do you know he is so much more than all you could think or imagine? I thought I knew this, and in a way I did, but I’ve found that the more I think I know of Him, the more I realize how little I know. I want to know more.

Indiana Jones – also known as Pastor Morgan

Allowing the goofy parts of me to come to the surface, while brazenly letting others see them regardless of the tremors inside, helps me hold on to aspects of God I need to know more of.

Delight. Creativity. Joy. Fun. Many of you know these better than I do.

Through you, the ones who see God dimly just as I do, I get to know more of Him. You see parts I don’t see, and you know more of Him through experiences I haven’t had.

Thank you for being you and allowing me to see more of the God whom we were all designed to reflect.

For those of you who are silly more often than not, thank you.

For those of you who create treasure out of trash, or beauty from a blank canvas, thank you for being you.

For those of you who suffer and struggle to find hope, but persevere anyway, thank you for being you.

For those who lead when they are afraid or follow when they want to lead, thank you for being you.

Let’s each one of us let go of who we weren’t meant to be, and embrace more of how God uniquely made us. We all find more of God and more of who we are when we see Christ displayed in each other.

What parts of you have yet to come to the surface? How might God be nudging you to try new things?

to be shared on Jennifer Dukes Lee #TellHisStory

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