The Lives We Lead

"This is so cool," said my five-year old friend Payton as we walked home from the bus stop.

I kneeled down and tried to decipher what exactly she was seeing, "What is?", I asked, as I looked down the street at houses, and cars, and geese.

"Like, all this, the world, I mean, how did all this get here?" Payt, replied, seemingly almost in disbelief of our daily routine.

"Well, God made all this Payt, the world, everything in it, for us."

"And he made us too? That is really, really cool."

What is it? What am I missing that I don't see these little miracles that seem to capture and awe the children I spend my afternoons with? The thrill of paper airplanes, the hysterical laughter caused by kisses from the dog, the pride of counting to eleven, and shrieks of spotting a ladybug. Children are so different, in our time with them; we yearn to be more like them. We yearn to be simpler, to play more, laugh harder, and pick flowers. People are drawn to children, and to the lives they lead.

So I pose this question, why are people not drawn to Christians and the lives that we lead? When did Christianity become so unattractive? And why is it that we, as people of faith, seemingly talk with more excitement about sports, the news, celebrities, films, and music than we do about Jesus Christ. Marva Down says, "One main reason why people outside of Christian spirituality aren't attracted to it is because we (Christians) don't demonstrate a way of life different enough to warrant belief."

It is painfully true. Our culture is so busy that we have to wonder why anyone would bother with becoming a follower of Christ if we as Christians haven't convinced them that following Jesus is a better way to live. Because too often, we, like the rest of the world, are so far from even living. I feel it all too often. I am bored, I am tired, and I feel dry. I am so exhausted by life and all it throws at me that I forget to live, to breathe. I become so "busy", that I have too little time for such "trivial" matters as cutting the crust off Payton's peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Our hearts are taxed by the world's ways of being, doing, and thinking. The sicker we become, the harder it is to fight off the illness. Our hearts grow cold. We carry out our faith with uninspired hands, our eyes shut, our emotions dulled, and our spirits numb. Boredom, indifference, apathy set in. And too often, we hide all this behind the shiny faced mask of the "oh-so happy Christian."

But it is not working anymore. The world is not buying it. And God has called us, invited us, to so much more. In Psalm 69:32 it says, "You who seek God, may your hearts live!" It would be better to die attempting this faithfulness than to give up, or never try at all. To be alive. People are drawn to people fully alive in the refreshing newness of Christ, and the exciting, world-changing, people-loving lives that they lead.

Poncelow is in her second year as a HELM Leadership Fellow and is a member of Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Fort Collins, Colorado.