Revealing Why It’s OK to Be Imperfectly Ready
A massive gust of wind threatened to rip the door from my hand as I opened it to quickly let in a local business momma bearing some inverted canvas pieces she had completed for me. Even through the dark that had brazened in early this evening, I could see faces moving in the van parked in the driveway.
The faces of my own children, who were not in bed as they were supposed to be, peered down over the banister, anxious to see the new signs. Their excitement was not unfounded as there was indeed a sign for each child bearing their respective first and middle names, their birth date, and the meanings of each of their names. The fourth was a latitude-longitude sign with the coordinates for our home, a classic for the farm-house theme we were working into our new house.
A picture imperfectly ready to be hung
I wished I was elated to finally be able to hang these signs up. The truth was that I had waited many months past when I expected them to be finished, had tried to be understanding of the reasons why we had rescheduled meeting several times, and had received close-ups earlier that day of the painted-over corrections that caused a lump in my throat.
Standing there in my entry I had a choice: insist either the price be lowered to match the quality or the signs be redone, or extend grace, no matter how little I thought it was deserved. I chose the latter, though I must admit I was still wrestling with obeying that still, small voice in my head that had asked this of me earlier that day.
From where I am now sitting at my kitchen table typing, I can see the latitude-longitude sign above our dark brown sectional couch in the living room. Even though this sign has the fewest splotches of white to cover where paint had seemed beneath the vinyl stencil, I can still see that the string of numbers sits a little cock-eyed in relation to the frame. Instead of feeling a twinge of regret when I look at it though, I see a reminder that God gives me grace when I don’t deserve it. And I see a picture that was imperfectly ready to be hung.
Why we don’t wait until we are ready
We are imperfectly ready for most things, are we not? If we waited until we knew how to be a perfect husband or wife, we would never get married. If we waited until we felt ready to tackle all the unknowns of parenthood, we would forever delay starting a family. So much of the becoming ready happens after we have started, not before.
Embarking on this journey of missional living within our new neighborhood is no different. We finally have a house big enough to be able invite lots of people in. The layout is open as we had envisioned, and there is a basement where kids could play while adults delve into discussion upstairs. We have caught the vision of inviting those in closest proximity to us to do life with us, growing together in our walks of faith, and showing genuine love through serving those in need in our neighborhood.
Even yet, we are quite aware of the imperfections of our home. The furniture we brought from the small house we rented before we made this purchase looks very sparse in a home three times the square footage. Two rooms on the main floor have carpet we had ultra-mega-deep power-cleaned shortly after we moved, and it still smells sour and has spots of all sizes that have popped back up. Some of our windows do not have any blinds or curtains yet. Our kitchen is spacious but straight up 90’s. All the light fixtures cannot hide their 90’s flair either, even masked beneath the dust I really don’t want to remove because they will be gone hopefully before long.
We certainly feel at best imperfectly ready to be a host home for a large group of neighbors to gather, and yet we cannot dismiss the way we are pulled towards this missional lifestyle.
Vision for the blog
I hope through this blog to share about the real-life situations and decisions we face as we delve into this adventure to help convince you that living on mission in your neighborhood doesn’t have intimidate you. I want to let you in on the thoughts and challenges we wrestle with, and the choices we must make as we navigate through ordering our priorities. Please join us in laughing over mistakes, celebrating successes, and learning as we go. Let’s create a new rhythm of normal in our neighborhoods, a normal that is uncommon, and one for which we are imperfectly ready for.
A prayer for when you feel imperfectly ready
Lord, please ready our hearts to love those nearest us as family, to open our lives, homes, and yards to them. The mission You call us to is not at all too difficult for You, and You go with us. Please inspire and encourage each of us as we go about our day, and help us to lean in and listen to what You might be saying to us about our neighborhoods. You are holy, and You are good, and we love You. Amen.
P.S. Did you know The Uncommon Normal is also a podcast? Tune in on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or Spotify.
Change your actual life in less than 5 minutes per day!
You can change your actual life in less than 5 minutes a day because baby steps truly can change the trajectory of your life. If you want 2021 to be the year you actually start living on mission in your neighborhood, this little book (available as a paperback and on Kindle) will help you get there. Each of the 30-day devotions takes but a few minutes to read, but they will lead to lasting life change.
If you’d like to check out Part 1 of the devotional FREE and also gain access to the rest of the missional living resources I’ve created for you in the new For You library, let me know here where to send the unlock code!
