Let’s Start at the Very Beginning…

… a very good place to start. And at the beginning of the year we walked through our values as a church: Biblical Authority, Relational Intimacy, Authentic Community, Gifted Service, Excellent Environments, and Relational Evangelism. I love these values and I love that Jim and Scott teach them every year. It’s like a giant reset button that reminds me why flatirons does what it does and what my role at flatirons should be. It allows me to examine my life and ask questions like, “Am I in community?”, “Who are my 2 am people?”, “Am I serving where it’s needed or only where I want to?”, “Am I telling others to ‘Come and see?’”

Recently I thought, “These values are for this church, but could I make these values my values for life?” And my immediate answer was, “Of course I can!” But it’s never that simple.

See, each of flatirons’ values comes with a statement of what that value means. And I knew that it wasn’t enough to just say that I was going to make these the values of my life, but I needed the statements to go along with them.

So I pondered for a while. And thought about it. And I wrote some stuff down. And then I scratched that stuff out. And then I thought some more. And I think I’ve come up with what these values should look like in my life. Some were easier than others, and I think that some will shift and change as my life changes (marriage, kids, etc.), but it’s a start.

So here they are:

Biblical Authority – I recognize that the Bible is the authority for my life. I may not always understand it, but it will always be true and I will try to live as it tells me to with grace and truth.

Relational Intimacy – Jesus is my Savior. I will live my life running after Him and discovering who He is and what He wants for me.

Authentic Community – I will be a friend. I will invest in others and allow them to invest in me. I will be real, honest, and raw with my 2 am people.

Gifted Service – I will serve out of my God-given gifts, talents, and passions, and where it is needed, always giving my best because that is what God deserves.

Excellent Environments – My home will be a place of refuge, for myself and for those that need one. It will be a place that lifts up the name of Jesus and is full of grace and truth.

Relational Evangelism – I will not shy away from telling people about Jesus or pointing others towards Him. I recognize it is not my job to have all the answers or to save them, but if I can just be open to sharing Him with others He will do the rest.

That’s it. They all sound really nice and simple, right? It seems like it should be easy to do these things. But I struggle with each of them every day.

Sometimes I don’t tell others about Jesus because I don’t know how they’ll react (or I do know how they’ll react and I just don’t want to get into an argument). Sometimes I don’t want to be honest and raw with my friends. I often struggle with allowing people to invest in me. Sometimes I just want to go do what I want to do instead of serving. Sometimes I want to do something I know is not what God wants for me. Can I get a “Me Too”?

But I think these are the things that God wants for me. And I know I won’t always get it right, but having this list helps me to understand where I’m falling short and allows God to keep working on me to get closer to who He wants me to be. So everyday I get up and I try. I try to be open to where God is leading me. And every night I look at these values and apologize for where I fell short. But His mercies are new every morning. Thank God.

 

Nicole loves three-hour lunches with new friends, chai tea, and Trolli bright crawlers. And she’s single.