Here I am! Isaiah 58:7-9 (MSG)
Show Up For Own Lives – The Here I Am Series – Part 6
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6
Hineni.
An ancient word that has been saving my life. Helping me take responsibility not only for me, but the stuff going on around me, too. It doesn’t matter whether or not we’re culpable, to blame, or if the mess belongs to us. If there’s mess, and we can see it, let’s do something about it. If there’s joy and we can touch it, let’s hug the life out of it. If there’s wonder and we can feel it, let's let it tingle up and down our spines and give our hearts hope for tomorrow.
Because that old cliché is true: all we have is now, and our agency to do with it whatever we choose.
To say “here I am” is to surrender. No running, no hiding. A gracious and humble showing up for whatever is going on in you and around you.
And look, there’s a lot going on, right? Sometimes, you have to choose what get's your availability. But your body, spirit, and heart will help you navigate it all.
When you start saying “here I am” to your life, it has a way of saying it back. It’s a grace. Listen to Spirit, she’ll lead you through.
The twelve step program is amazing. Although I’m not alcoholic, I read the steps often and use them for my own set of challenges.
The first two are:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
PRACTICE:
1. Admit the stuff.
It might not be recovering from addiction that you’re saying “here I am” to. But every ‘hineni’ moment in our lives is an admission to something we have to deal with, something we have to live all the way through. So admit it. Write it down, call a friend, say it out loud. Here I am.
2. Believe.
Believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you. Because when we say “here I am,” it’s then that we hear that the Divine has been saying it to us all along.
The twelve step program circles back around with the once addicted helping those coming out of addiction. It’s a divine loop of service, giving and receiving, becoming a part of someone's answer, reaching out like you were reached out for.
There’s no better way to show up for own lives than by showing up for others. Sometimes (I think most) they are so entwined you can’t tell them apart.
“What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.”
– Isaiah 58:7-9 (MSG).
Written by Liz Milani
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