Easter Sunday. I don’t know where you attended a service but our church was PACKED. Full lobby. Everyone in their Sunday best. Let’s talk about it…..
Let me get really honest here, I am an introverted extrovert. I don’t like crowds. My sweet spot in life is not a large room full of people. I would rather be in a quiet room alone than a crowded lobby with friends and strangers.
I’m just being honest.
On Sunday morning we arrived at our church. All the kids returned home to attend the celebration of our risen savior. The lobby was full. So many conversations all at one time. The noise level was high and I was fighting the urge to run for the exit.
Not because of Jesus. Not because of my family.
I was fighting that urge because as I told my daughters who share my introvert/extrovert gene….
“Do you hear this? This is what the voices in my head sound like all the time.”
I don’t know who reads this and I don’t know if you share that same thing. Often, the mental gymnastics in our mind and the noise of a crowded lobby can be exhausting. You just want a moment of silence. You just want to not to have to make decisions, be your best, wear your Sunday best, smile, chat, listen.
You just want silence.
Jesus did too.
We are not Jesus and I can’t begin to imagine the amount of stress and anxiety that He was dealing with. I can only lean into the fact that He knew when to walk away and when to run. He knew when to seek silence and when to be fully present.
Lord give me the strength to do the same. Even in the lobby.
Matthew 14:23: Jesus goes up into a mountain apart to pray after sending the multitudes away
Luke 5:16: It is described as a custom for Jesus to go to a desolate place to pray
Mark 1:35: Jesus rises before dawn and goes into a solitary place to pray
Luke 6:12: He spends the night on a mountain praying before choosing the apostles
Living in the Lobby looks a lot like this moment in “For Love of The Game.”
Superman understood the lobby……
Edie Brickell did too.
To my friends who struggle in the lobby, I am a part of your circle of friends too.
And being alone is the, is the best way to be
When I’m by myself it’s the best way to be
When I’m all alone it’s the best way to be
When I’m by myself, nobody else can say goodbye
If you’re in the lobby, I see you. I know you.
Edie said it best – “Everything is temporary anyway.”
It’s temporary. Fight through it. Find your center, your peace and your solitude. Don’t leave the lobby. You never know what you will learn and find from being there.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
