Thoughts On: John 4:27-38

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

John 4:34-38, ESV

I cried watching the Final Five win their Gold medals on Tuesday night. I have loved gymnastics since day one, but there is something special about this team. Maybe it is their diversity, or their unparalleled power, or the 5,000 Swarovski crystals on each of their leotards, but these girls are special. They are a team, and they act like one. They trained together, they sweat together, they bled together, and they prepared for glory together. As Aly and Simone took the podium last night and supported each other's success, something lit up inside of me. Maybe it's about squad goals, but I think it's about something else. 

I think a recurring theme in the lies I've believed is that I can do it alone. I think it's the lie that can be attributed to many of my less glamorous sins, and I think it's the lie that manifests itself in the darkest ways. I hate this lie, but still I go back to it. I am learning, slowly, that this lie doesn't give me anything. I'm learning that it will cause a downward spiral of fear and anxiety and panic. I'm learning to say no to this lie - but I think it will take many more truths to truly have a foundation on which to step onto in order to leave this lie completely behind. 

For so long I have felt it is my job to tell a story. I wanted to tell a story about hope and redemption and about justice. I wanted to do good, but I saw my life as the beginning, the middle, and the end of this narrative. I saw myself as the center. I'm not sure there's anything more lonely than thinking the entire story rides on you. That is where the truth comes in: I am on a team.

The fact that I am entering into other's labor - in my job, in my dreams, in my life's story - would have angered me a few years ago. I wanted to run the show - I wanted to prove I could do it. But it only took a yearlong journey toward healing and health for my pride to be crushed and my need to become apparent. I needed a community. I needed a team - and a team is just what Jesus offers. 

In accepting the Gospel, I get to be on the greatest team of all time. I get to enter into a legacy that has been slowly knit together over thousands of years, and I get to build on what that team has done, and forge new paths for the teammates who will come after me. I get to be on the Kingdom Team - and if that's not #squadgoals, I don't know what is.