“Crave God and run your guts out.”—Jennie
Allen
I once bought a vacuum cleaner that boasted a tangle-proof
cord, a claim I promptly disproved. There is no flexible thing longer than two feet that I can’t have in a knot within minutes. I wrap my hair dryer cord
carefully around its handle and tuck it gently in the drawer, but it must be
doing some knotty things at night because every morning there it is— all
tangled up with the flat iron cord. (I heard that groan!)
And I’ve mentioned before how, as a kid, I got my hair in a
wad by putting a wound up wind-up car next to my ear so I could listen to the
whine. It took about one second for my hair to wrap around the spinning wheels.
I walked around with a car hanging from my head until my mother cut the whole
thing free.
Knots and tangles. I was thinking there wasn’t a good thing
to say about them but then I remembered a time back in my crafty days when I
learned how to macramé and my house was filled with knotted plant holders
suspended in front of every window.
So I’m thinking about those yards of beautifully patterned
knots, and how so many of the poignant bits of life stories that emerged during
a creative nonfiction workshop I led this weekend had beginnings in
life-knots—circumstances that were difficult to see the pattern in at the
time—and I’m beginning to appreciate the hidden beauty of knots.
Then, one thing led to another as one thing so often does: I
picked up Jennie Allen’s book and Bible study, Restless: Because You were Made For More, and read, “Just as we see
the threads of God’s purpose weaving through Joseph’s life, our goal is to lay
out the threads running through our own [lives.]”
Finding purpose and patterns in tangled threads. “When we
see how they weave together, we better understand ourselves.”-Allen
So since Allen so seamlessly wove herself into my morning
musings, it seems a good time to brag on her Bible study (which I delayed
reviewing because of my father-in-law’s death).
Through each of the eight video-based units, using the life
of Joseph as a backdrop, Allen prods us to realize the people, places,
circumstances and even sufferings in our lives are all material God uses to
weave his purpose in us.
The older we get, the easier it is to see that the course of
our life was not/is not random, but I appreciate how Jennie Allen chases after
God’s purpose, how she challenges us to remember we already matter, that we’ve
been given gifts for the
purpose of helping others. So let’s make our days count for
the time we have been born to.
Her prayer for us is “that God and eternity would get bigger
and more real in our lives, and as they do, we would feel more compelled to
live for eternity and Jesus Christ than this short life.”
Yes and Amen! to that.
Previously I used Allen’s study Chase with a group of women meeting in a local café. That study was
well received because its design encouraged deep reflection and conversation.
Although I am in between group studies right now, I have read the book Restless (can be purchased separately)
and have reviewed these Bible study materials, which once again are beautiful,
probing, and challenging.
They are designed for participation and personal
application, and at the same time are anchored in Scripture. Check them out.
“Something deep inside
us is made to live for a story bigger than ourselves—the story of the one who
made us.”—Jennie Allen, Restless
As we sneeze (here in the land of blossoming things) or
snow-shovel (for those of you dear ones still sloshing through—I hate to even
say it—snow—Blessings of abundant joy!
Marcia
