Coming Alive

Not all of us are actually alive. Sometimes, without realizing it, we stop living. We are busy – life keeps coming. We meet the needs in front of us. To those around us, we are a resource – so they might not notice that we’ve stopped living.

Cereal still shows up on the table, the car gets kids to soccer, the checkbook gets balanced and vacations get planned. So to our family, we look alive.

We show up to our designated spot on Sunday and during the week. Our job gets accomplished – even with excellence. Our ministry is blessing others – so no one notices that we’ve stopped living.

The saddest part is that because all of the above is getting accomplished, we might not even notice that we’ve stopped being alive. We might not realize that we are stuck.

But in odd moments, we feel a sense that we’ve lost something. We might remember being excited about life, and assume we’ve just grown up.

Being alive, having excitement and feeling the vibrancy of life is not just for the young – it is for humans of all ages. I met with a friend who is 76 the other day and she is so vibrant! She is full of what God is doing through her and in those He has put in her life. Every day is a new adventure. She is excited to be who God created her to be and her “aliveness” is obvious!

How do we end up dead, or at least no longer alive?

We end up dead – or at least no longer alive one day at a time. It might be a period of intense emotion or crisis, where our energy is highly focused on being with others; or it might be just a slow descent into the daily grind.

How do you know if you’re no longer alive?

This is hard for me to describe because most of the time God has had to point it out to me. There was a time after about a year of intense changes that I sat in a church service and heard the Lord whisper – “you are still alive, you know.” Another time I slowly found myself becoming excited to wake up again. In recent years I noticed a void – that lack of excitement for the new day – but didn’t quite make the connection until I heard this song:

Then, I heard my heart. When the song sings “if you walked out of the grave, I’m walking too”, my heart announced that it wanted to live again – if Jesus is alive, then His Spirit will infuse me with His life and I will live again. I heard hope!

Every time that I’ve been so pressed down I forgot I was a person, God has sent me a song. The song is always things I already know, but my heart, for some reason, doesn’t believe. How do I know? At every turn, my heart responds in fear instead of faith. These songs, I then use to move that head knowledge back to my heart. I dance to them, I sing them loudly, I let the song sing while I pray out loud, unburdening all the parts of life that aren’t jiving with this faith walk.

Speaking life back in

What does this look like? Here’s a generic example, meaning I usually get very specific about every area of concern: “God, here is this situation and what I’m feeling about it, but I see now what You see and here is the truth. This situation will not destroy, instead the Spirit of God will flow and I will see God’s victory. Walls will fall because nothing can stand before God and You have promised that You will show up!”

Every trip back to life seems to require an honest assessment in prayer of where I’m at – almost like I take off the backpack I’ve been carrying and do an inventory, taking these burdens that have been on me and putting them on Jesus.

I don’t know where you are at today – or what’s in your backpack. But God does and He wants to carry the backpack for you. In Matthew 11:30, Jesus reminds us that His burden is light – it is because He carries our backpack and only asks us to hold onto Him.

I think that most of us don’t think much about being alive – we have low expectations. We think living is that thing we do that involves breathing – but being alive is so much more – it is that bounce of vibrancy and joy because you are being and doing what you were created to do.

What should I do if I’m not alive?

If you aren’t quite alive, stop. I know it might not feel like you can get alone, but you can – even if it is from 1-2am every day until you feel alive again. Then:

• Stop and listen to your soul. What burdens are you carrying? Talk about these to God.
• When God starts speaking, tell your soul what He is saying – say it out loud so that you really hear it. (Depending on your learning style, you might want to write it instead of saying it.)
• If you have a song or scripture that makes your heart leap but you don’t feel like you quite believe it, put that song on repeat until it becomes engrained.

There will come a time when you have something to give that is fresh and new – give, because as you give, God will give you more. We were made to be like an overflowing spring – giving and receiving as a way of living.

Make sure you celebrate when you feel alive.

So, your assignment for today – ask your soul, “Am I truly alive?”