I wrote last week about showing up, but this week I learned the value of turning up.
Learning takes place through an accumulation of experience.
Rarely do I learn from my first experience. It is always interesting to me how some learning just clicks, and other times it just takes time to settle in.
I have a very dear friend who introduced me to the idea that our brains have satellites; connection points for ideas to grow and develop. Until those satellites are active, we cannot recognise the idea or concept for what it is. As we learn new things, as we open ourselves up to new thinking, we activate our satellites, thus providing the opportunity to learn.
Having written about showing up, all of a sudden, I had a new perspective on the action and mindset that goes with it.
Showing up is not always easy. An essential element of showing up is the conscious choice to be present, and to engage. For me showing up and turning up are two separate activities.
What I learned is that sometimes you must turn up in order to show up.
This past weekend there was a working bee at my church. I don’t like working bees. First and foremost, they often require a large amount of physical labour, and that usually occurs outside, including digging, lifting, moving, etc. These are things I hate to do. Oh and it was going to be 37 degrees celsius … another thing I hate HEAT!
Whatever you are part of, a church, community, family, friendship or relationship, there is always a need to participate. It is the essence of these groups, these collaborations, which require us to take part; to be a part of them.
Ultimately, we sign up to show up.
That is except on the days when you simply don’t feel like it, or you don’t want to. Right?
Last weekend I did not want to!
I am part of an amazing community. It’s a church community, and they give me so much. I have friendship, fellowship and a place where I can experience God through His people and His presence.
While I love this community, and I love being part of it, a community cannot just be about what I get, but it has to also be about what I give.
One of the greatest things about how our community functions is they don’t ask for anything. The foundational practice of a church community it to give, and our pastors are a great example of that practice, but there is truly no obligation.
Now many of you who have had any sort of church experience might suggest that inherent in this type of group is an obligation to do things.
Many believe that if we receive it goes without saying that we should equally give.
What I love about our community is that any obligation is a figment of my experience, not a reality of their expectation.
That there, is one satellite, that is picking up the wrong signal!!!
But I digress.
What I’m trying to say is that I did not need to turn up or show up to this working bee last weekend, but I did feel like I needed to be there. That was me, or perhaps upon reflection it was God; nudging me, encouraging me, and knowing what I needed.
So, I turned up. And guess what, it was an incredibly satisfying and encouraging day.
This was not the working bee I had expected. Instead of being outside in the heat, it was inside. And joy of joys, the task was organising. Do you know the opposite of heavy hard labour is to me? It’s organising. I can lift the heaviest of things in the guise of organising.
Laugh if you will, but I got to organise the storeroom. A 6-meter x 6 meter mess of boxes and shelving and accumulated junk. What an answer to prayer!!
But seriously, this was my type of heaven. I had talked myself into the day being something I had to be there for, and that I would have to endure. I had created a vision of something that was going to be a torment. My narrative was negative, and it had latched on and found a home in my brain.
I turned up with a negative attitude, and a unwilling mindset, and what I got was a day in community with people I care about, and where I am valued.
When I came home, I immediately thought ‘that’s my next blog topic’. I had learned the difference between showing up and turning up. I realised right then that sometimes we are asked to turn up in order to see the value and importance of showing up.
Lesson learned! Satellite activated. Job done.
Oh no my friends, I do not learn quickly.
Now I had some questions about those lovely satellites my friend taught me about. I needed to talk to her about how long they stay on, what their signal strength is, or can they simply have power outages that make them flick on and off. Because as Saturday afternoon led to Sunday morning, someone had flicked a switch.
Sunday is for our community the day we get together for fellowship, for what would be called a ‘service’. We had until December last year had a 10.30 am service, where you would get music, communion, prayer and a sermon, followed by lunch together for those who wanted to stay. Then at the end of last year we thought we would try out something different and have the same format, but at 6pm. Some liked the new time slot, some didn’t, but we thought for 2022 we might mix it up and some weeks do 10.30 am and some 6.30 pm.
But somewhere along the way, while I wasn’t looking, it was decided that we would actually do both. Yes, that’s right have two gatherings on the same day!!
What are you talking about? Attend twice on one day.
Again, can I stress we are under no obligation to attend twice. No one was saying ‘Bec you get to both those services or you’ll lose your place upstairs’. No, that’s not how it works. It never has. And yet I felt like I had to be there.
So again not 24 hours after having the experience of working bee, I just turned up to our community on Sunday morning at 10.30 am and returned Sunday evening at 6.00pm.
Again I turned up, and guess what not only did God show up, but so did I.
The sermon was on Practical Faith.
The sermon talked about how we live out what we believe on a daily basis.
The sermon reminded me that it is my faith that makes me turn up in situations when I just don’t feel like it.
It is my faith that allows me to trust that God has it all in hand. It is the experience of my faith which helps to remind me that God has been faithful to me in all things in my life.
It is my faith that helps me to turn up when God asks me to because He has something for me that I need to show up for.
The community I am part of on a Sunday, or as it exists any other day of the week, is a community who need more of me than just to turn up. But at the same time because of the value this community brings to my life when all I can do is turn up, I am blessed by the experience. Blessed because no matter what God shows up.
Last weekend I learned the value of turning up in those moments you don’t have the ability to show up. When you turn up with God and switch your mind on to the possibility of there being something more, God will help you to show up for Him too.
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