The Stillness of the Home
It’s 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday. The house is mostly quiet with soft music playing over the buzz of family life which is just beginning to settle down for the evening. I dim the lights, throw a tablecloth over what had been covered with homeschool papers a few hours earlier, light a candle, and gather chairs from around the house to make sure there is a place for everyone. I swat away eager hands as I set out treats from the Trader Joe’s run that I just made on the way home from my daughter’s dance class: veggies and dip, fruit, something crunchy, salty, sweet—always chocolate. Porch lights shine their welcome to friends who will begin to trickle in for this time set apart, prepared for us to seek the Kingdom together.
Some knock gently in case the baby might be sleeping, while others let themselves in and make their way to the table that has been set for them. Hugs are given, drinks are poured—a glass of wine or sparkling water over ice—and plates are filled as we reconnect in a way that only happens here. We see one another often over playdates at the park, school activities, book clubs, and Sunday Mass but somehow this feels different, is different. In fact, it wasn’t until this small group started a little over a year ago that these familiar faces truly began to become intimate companions.
As Friendship Grows
It is strange how you can know someone for so long without really knowing them at all. When and how does a true sharing of hearts in a way that really matters happen? How do we know, love, support, and care for one another, and allow others into our lives enough to do the same? How do we draw closer to God and come to know His heart for us more intimately alongside and through our sharing of Him with others?
Those were some of the questions and longings that prompted that first small group invitation which I sent to these women now filling my home with their laughter and tears, their encounters with Jesus and intentions, their presence that feels like a hug wrapped around my life.
As the last friend rushes in, breathlessly taking her place at the table, we begin in a prayer to leave the cares and distractions of the day to enter into His presence. We welcome the Holy Spirit and ask Mary to guide our conversation, that God would be glorified and that we would encounter the Jesus of the Gospel once again through our sisters. It's as if one collective sigh exhales gratitude to be here together in this time and place set apart with the intention of seeking Heaven together.
His Word is For You
The house is quiet for the first time this evening as devotional studies on the Gospel of Matthew are opened and each of us flips through pages scrawled with notes, scanning to find what was most meaningful to share, to encourage and be encouraged. Each ponders and remembers time spent alone in the quiet with Jesus because as beautiful as this time is together, it is because of what has gone before that makes it the unique gift that it is.
Alone with nothing but an open Bible, the blank page of a BIS Gospel devotional, and a pen in hand, we respond to the invitation written to read just a handful of verses each day with the beautiful reminder right there on the page: “His Word is for you, and He invites you to meet Him in it.”
Incredibly, that is exactly what begins to happen as day after day, I carve out time in His Word, to “select a verse or part of the passage to meditate over” and then to “ponder the scene in prayer and write down what God is trying to say in [my] life today.” Such simple prompts on creamy, smooth paper lure me to listen differently, to pay attention and choose to write what I think I might be hearing. What starts tentatively begins to flow and before I know it, a flood of His truth spoken for me fills not only the lines but the margins too. Lyrics of songs, scenes of movies, and memories start pouring onto the page and I know Jesus is with me speaking in and through His Gospel. Lovely photography throughout seems to take me by the hand, encouraging me to breathe in His presence. There are just enough guided meditations scattered throughout to place myself in the scene with Jesus and enter more deeply into what has already begun. This Gospel devotional is allowing me to find what has been hidden there all along and it is changing me. It is changing us, because my friends are experiencing it too!
It's not just you.
Someone breaks the silence: “This verse really stood out to me,” “Do you ever remember hearing that?” “I feel like God just wants me to know . . .” “Do you have any idea what this means?”
The stories of His Word spoken over and in us tumble one over the other as we share which verses were the most meaningful and how they are transforming our lives. We are hearing some of the verses differently tonight through the testimony of our friends and feel the need to revisit them in prayer to continue this renewal of our unfolding minds. I realize there is always more to receive as I return to the Gospels again and again, so grateful for this invitation given to meet Him endlessly.
Inevitably, someone gasps as they see the time and we all realize how late it has gotten and bemoan that the alarm will be sounding all too early tomorrow morning. Just like that, the real world rushes back in. We hurry to share intentions to pray for one another until next time, give final hugs and go our separate ways, reassured that it was worth the risk to seek Him. When we do, we always find more than we could have ever imagined.
About the Author
Alison Oertle is a Catholic Christian who is head-over-heels in love with Christ in His Church and continually inspired by the lives and words of the Saints.
She is a former missionary turned homemaker, wife to a naturopathic medical doctor, and mother to children through birth and adoption. She is a classical homeschooler, artist, speaker and writer living in the gorgeous Sonoran Desert.
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