M-I-S-S-I-O-N

I just attended a John Angotti concert at church.  It was awesome!  If you are interested, check out www.johnangotti.com. It was moving and inspirational and fun.  It was pure positive energy!

One of the most popular songs he has written is “I Send you out”.  The words say, “I send you out on a mission of love”.  He talked about the word mission and he likes to think it stands for:                      Moving In Spirit Seeing Into Other’s Needs.   Isn’t that great?

Often, we think of Missionaries as people that go to other countries to help people.  When I think of a Mission trip, I think of traveling far away to help people in need. 

What if we changed our thinking on that? 

Starting today, I’m going to think it’s a Mission trip every time I leave my house.  “C’mon kids, we’re going on a mission trip to the grocery store!”  I can see the eye rolling already!

But seriously…if we think of Mission as Moving In Spirit Seeing Into Other’s Needs, can’t that be done everywhere, all the time?  Aren’t we called to live our faith where we are? 

Many of us won’t have a chance to travel to a foreign country to serve others but we can do our work here.  We can Move in Spirit in our families, with our children and our spouses.  We don’t even have to leave home to do our mission work! We can Move in Spirit in our churches and our schools and with our volunteer work.  We can Move in Spirit when we greet others, smile at strangers, open the door for someone. 

Can’t we see other’s needs all the time?  We need to be aware of course but we can see if someone needs a helping hand or a ride somewhere or a compassionate ear.  We can lend our shoulder to cry on.  We can send a joke to a friend that needs a laugh or a send a card to say hello to an old friend.  We can turn to our families and tell them we love them.  We can say we are sorry. 

It will be fun! We’ll move in spirit all over!  Walgreen’s will never be the same! Can you imagine everyone truly aware, seeing into other’s needs?  And not only seeing into other’s needs but actually responding to them!

 Maybe there will be a far away mission trip in your future, but until then, practice here at home.  I have no doubt that God has placed all of us where we are, at this time, in this place, with these people, for a reason.  He knows there is work to be done and He has placed us here to do it.  Let’s not miss the opportunities we have before us. 

We can continue to think big (world peace, abolishing hunger, all people knowing God and feeling His embrace, LOVE everywhere!) but we can start today with our own little corner of the world. 

This reminds me of a quote I love by Barbara Bush.  She said, “The future of this country does not depend on what happens in the White House, it depends on what happens in your house.”  Smaller scale…huge impact on the future.  You make the difference.

Click here to listen to I Send You Out.  Enjoy!