Not Done, Just Different

by Pastor Gina

All right, so it's time for you all to go with me in your minds, and I want you to picture it. What is it? It is a TV. It is massive. Okay, what is this? What year is this from even, right? This thing is huge. It's got this brown casing around it. It has these little artificial drawers at the bottom of it, and it's, like, they're not even drawers, but there's these three handles.

Do you get this TV in your mind? What year is it from? Can somebody help me out? Like, what year? What year is the TV you're seeing in your mind? 50s? Yeah, okay, awesome. Yeah, okay, so you see it. What kind of TV is it? Is it, you know, what kind? Yeah, it's black and white. Can you see it? Is it a Zenith? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, and, you know, where did those things go? What happened to those things?

I don't know what picture you all brought into your mind, but if you really go there with me, can you see whatever decorations sat on top of it? Can you see the size of the remote that went with it? Can you see whoever sat beside you? Well, remember, you guys might be going to the 50s. This girl’s going to, like, the 70s, 80s, okay? We can't all go to the same place. We actually had a remote for ours, all right?

That's the thing, when you go there, you can see it clearly, whatever it was, and you can remember the memories that came around, and you can remember the things that took place in history that you saw on there, and perhaps it was black and white, and perhaps you remember when you saw it come into color. I remember when we went from the one that we had growing up to one that was even bigger, but the difference was the wood was, like, a pretty kind of golden color, and it didn't have the same kind of drawers, and the speakers were this nice black on top instead of this weird looking kind of thing

But what happened? They're just done. They're just done, and perhaps you're standing there in your living room in present day, and you’re like, okay, what am I gonna do with this, you know, and it's like, “Ah, it's time.” It's time to get rid of it, you know. “Ohmi, Travis Bruce, come on. Let's get rid of it,” and Ohmi's like, “Wait a second, mom. That is not done. That is just different.” And so we take out the tv and the cabinet part gets a fresh coat of paint and a new shelf and it becomes a small bookshelf. It's amazing what happens when we recognize that things aren't done just because perhaps their purpose is changing. Perhaps where they're at in their life, it's time for something new, you know.

I'm gonna have a few stories for you all this time, because as I was preparing, I just came across these fun stories that brought the message to life for me, and this one about the TV actually just came this morning. That's the cool thing with that connection with the Spirit. You're in the zone, and something hits you. It's like, “Oh, we're talking about TVs.”

But let me tell you all about a tree. There was a tree that rested far back on a family farm in the corner, and the tree leaned very heavily to one side, and it was weathered. It was beaten on by storms and all sorts of things, and there was a time where the trees along that back fence, way in the back, would all bloom so beautifully, but over time, it started to change, and certain trees along the way would bloom, but this one wouldn't do anything, and as the family would take the time to look at that tree and go, “Gosh, you know, we've had it. It's been there for so long. I remember. I remember when it used to be full of life and full of color, and like, you know, maybe, just maybe it's time to cut it down.”

Then at that point in time, they said, “Well, you know, we'll wait. We'll give it one more year, and then we'll cut it down.” The next year, lo and behold, as the blossoms came upon the tree, it wasn't that they bloomed necessarily any faster than the others, but they bloomed with a deeper richness to them. It was as if they'd been sitting within the tree like you'd put something in a place to marinate, and now they've been released, and they've bloomed into life.

It was interesting because as the family looked at this tree, the grandfather said, “You know, some trees have to wait a little longer to remember what they're supposed to do.”

What a beautiful message, because there are times in our lives where we get moving along, and we get caught up so much in going into this and going into that that we get distracted. We lose sight of what we're supposed to do. In some ways, we even forget who we are. You hear stories all the time of couples who come together, and as time moves on, they feel more like strangers, or they feel more like roommates, or sometimes they feel like enemies, because as things evolved over time, they forgot that what you're supposed to do here is continue to be open, continue to love one another, and see one another, and navigate the seasons together, and figure out what you're supposed to do next.

That's the same way with so many things in our life. When I think about that grandpa saying, that sometimes some trees just take longer to remember what they're supposed to do, I have to wonder, is that true for people? I know in my own life it is. I know in my own life there have been many times where I came to a lesson, I thought, “Gosh, why didn't I get this lesson sooner?” At the same time, I stopped and said, “You know what? I couldn't have heard it back then.”

I couldn't have heard it back then. I didn't have the teachers, or I didn't have the student mentality to be taught, but it's absolutely amazing when we recognize that there's still more there. We're not done. Things are just different.

And so some questions for you all to ponder is, what if the season that you're in right now isn't, “Oh, I'm declining, I'm getting older, I'm wrapping things up, I'm preparing for…” what? My question is, what if this is actually a season where it's time for things to be reinvented? And not because you have to get out there and hustle, not because you have to get out there and prove that you still have it, but maybe it's just a season to reveal to you something you've forgotten about yourself. Maybe it's a season that's inviting you to trust and to unfold and to know that no matter how old you are, it does not determine anything because that age is only as powerful as you let it be, along with death, along with time, along with so many other things. So, what if this is the season to trust and invite, and not with all the noise and all the distractions, but in the stillness?

I think about Moses. Now, when I say, “Hey, who knows Moses?”, a lot of people skip past the burning bush. They say, “Well, he freed all the slaves from Egypt. You know, he parted the Red Sea. Oh, he didn't get to go into the Promised Land. He gave the Ten Commandments. He hit that rock and got in trouble.” You know, they go over that, but they don't always, believe it or not, talk specifically about that moment with that bush.

If they do, they focus on the call. They focus on the dispute between him and God and God saying, “You go do this,” and him saying, “Oh, I can't speak. I can't do it.” And God saying, “Hey, I'm telling you, you can go and tell him I sent you.” And Moses is like, “Oh, I don't know about this. I want to take my brother with me.”

The thing about it is, what about that moment right before then? So here's Moses. He's up there in years, and he's tending sheep. Uh-oh, I better say that differently. He's seasoned, and he's tending sheep, just doing his thing. You know, nothing really special going on. And all of a sudden, this bush catches his attention because it's burning, but it's not consumed. It's on fire, but it's not consumed. And so he decides to go over to the bush. And when he goes over to the bush, something wonderful happens. Let's go to the scripture.

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush. He looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up. When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. Then he said, come no closer. Remove the sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

He says, take off your sandals. You are standing on holy ground. So what changed in that moment? Because the ground didn't change. This is the same old ground.

But Moses paused long enough in his daily activity where he may have been thinking, “Well, I guess this is what I'm going to spend the rest of these years doing, tending these sheep, kissing my father-in-law's butt, chilling with the wife and all the dang family and everything else in this big group of people.” But instead, he paused and he decided to see. And in that moment, in that moment of stillness, God says, “You are standing on holy ground.”

See, you thought you were done, but something different is about to occur here. You thought this is just your common everyday task, your common everyday chores, but there's more to it.

And you have to think about this. He didn't call the Moses that was young and strong and, you know, fresh there hanging out with the Pharaoh's son. He didn't call that Moses. As a matter of fact, that Moses started to get convicted by something and recognize something so you could say God was calling him, but not the way he calls him here. And everything happens perfectly if you allow yourself to believe that.

So, 80-year-old Moses gets called. This is the one who failed, right? He failed forward because he murdered and he ran away. And this is him. And it's beautiful because God called him back to say, “You don't have to prove anything to me. You don't need to hand me your resume. I see who you are and it's time for me to help you remember who I am. Because when you remember who I am, you will remember who you are.”

You know, it's funny, when I was thinking about Moses, the name just jumped over so quickly to good old Grandma Moses. Her real name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses.

She spent most of her life doing what needed to be done. You know, raising family, farming chores, a lot of stitch needlework. And she reached a point in her life where her arthritis, this was in her late 70s, really took the best of those hands. They couldn't do quite the fine detail things that they were able to do. So, what does she do? She picks up a paintbrush. And at the age of 78, her first painting that becomes famous along with many others is painted—at age 78. There's so many of them. They're beautiful. And you can get them in puzzles and pictures and reprints and all sorts of places.

But you know what? She didn't paint because she had something to prove. She didn't paint because she had a big burning bush sitting next to her. She had a burning bush within her that reminded her that you don't have to throw in the towel here. There is more to be done. Her story just continues to remind me that beauty can still come forward even when we think that it's done. Just like the tree, just like Moses, just like the television.

And you know, it's interesting because it's those slow, it's those calm, it's those unexpected beginnings that turn into something we just weren't expecting.

Last story, last story. There is a lady who collected all of her husband's letters from when he served in World War II. And when he passed away, at first she would continue to read them all the time. And then one of her friends said to her, “You know, Dolores, I think you should put those away. I think you just need to put those away so you can get on with your life. I know they're very important to you, and you don't have to get rid of them. Just put them away and move on with your life.” And so, she put them away.

Well, years later, she had a grandchild who found this box of letters. And the child was so little, he said, “Grandma, Grandma, will you read some of these to me?” And she did. And she started off reading them with hesitation and just not sure if she could handle this. She then started reading them with all the love and spirit and intentionality that they were written with.

And she could hear herself replying along the way. And as she looked at her grandchild, she smiled and she said, “Thank you.” She said, “You know, the last time I read these letters was when I was a person who believed they could still be surprised. And you surprised me today.” And the little grandchild just looked up kind of like, I don't know what kind of subtle moment you're having here, but they hugged Dolores right away. And it was beautiful.

I have to ask you, how often do you think that God no longer has something to surprise you? That God no longer has another door that you haven't yet got to walk through? How often do you think that God is done surprising you? And I know some people, they hear the word surprise, and they think of the negative surprise. So let's go with good surprises, really good surprises.

We really shouldn't, but we like to box God in and think, “No, I know all I know that there is to know. And I've been with God my whole life and he's always come through.” And as we're saying that, we limit what more God can do. We think, “Man, God's done all this and I'm so grateful. So if I died today, I am taken care of. Thank you, Lord.”

It's like, why are we even going there? Why are we even singing a song of death? Why are we even telling a story of, “Hey, this is going to happen. So thank you, God, for all you've done. You probably don't have much more to do from here. I'm already 80. I'm already 90. Oh my gosh, I made it to my 101st birthday. So, you know, thank you, God. I'm just so thankful I had all these years.”

I'm not telling you don't be grateful. I'm telling you do not box our God in. I did it for a long time and it's amazing that it took me 22 years before I had brain surgery. Isn't it? Or was it perfect? Is it perfectly amazing? Because I kept thinking, “Oh, God is never going to take this from me. He's blessed me in so many other ways.”

Well, just like we may be carrying something older and heavy and really that doesn't belong with us anymore, I bet you're also carrying some things you've forgotten about. I bet you also have some talents and gifts and things in you that you've yet to discover. Maybe this is that season of life where you go to God and you get curious and not with any pressure, not with any timeline. Just give yourself permission to wonder. Ask the questions.

Take the time to say, “God, is there something in me that I've forgotten about? God, will you reveal to me where you want me to go next?” And in those moments, don't sit there and start the timer. How fast is God going to answer this? Every little thing I see, is this a synchronicity God is telling me right now? No. Just be.

Just be. Trust yourself that in entering into presence with God, from there you don't have to chase your answers. They will be revealed to you.

It's not time to get caught up in age and illness and achievement, but it's time just to tune in and pay attention to where God is calling us in this very present moment. And you know, it doesn't take the bigger moments like the Red Sea parting. It doesn't take that moment for us to hear and see God.

Sometimes we hear and see God when we decide, you know, “I'm going to leave my phone here and I'm going to go over there.” And sometimes we hear and see God when we're driving to that place we drive every single day, but this time we don't turn on the radio or the talk radio and we just sit in the stillness. Sometimes it's when we're sitting there and a random person that you know and love dearly tugs at your heart. And that's the Spirit saying, “Hey, this person's on your mind for a reason.”

It's interesting because sometimes we look for those big sea parting moments when really we just need to look right here in this very moment that we're here. What is God calling you to? And guess what? It's okay if it's nothing but further stillness. Because sometimes that's the moment you need to be in, of just being in further stillness and just preparing yourself by being open and God will reveal the rest.

And just be careful. Don't get stuck with what you carried. What I mean by that is sometimes we have a story in our past that we let trap us into “This is who I will always be no matter how hard I try. I just can't ever forgive that thing. I just can't ever see it being different.”

Oh, those words are gross. Spit them out and leave them alone.

The other side of that is also don't conceal it because sometimes that story that you have that once upon a time meant so much to you and you think, “Yeah, but nobody else would understand. Nobody else wants to hear my boring stories. I'm not even close in age to that person.” But the truth is your story, if you're honest, if you're vulnerable, if you're transparent, might just be the story they've been waiting years and years to hear.

So don't let it lock you in, but don't hide it away. You will have the words that could give the quiet encouragement that changes someone's moment, someone's week, and ultimately someone's life. So, I'm telling everyone, I don't care what age you are, where you come from, where you live, we are not done.

You are not done. You're just different. And different is so sacred.

Different is when you see a TV become a bookshelf. Different is when you're tending sheep and a bush is on fire and not consumed. Different is when you trade in a needle for a paintbrush at age 78—at age 78.

Different is believing in something with all that you got, even though it's never been done before. Even though every other church in town looks just like you, you think, “How are we going to be different?” Just like that, we're going to be different. Different is Jesus demonstrating that death is not a thing.

But most of all, different is that unexpected surprise that the Spirit has in you, and it has your name on it. So be there with me.

We're not done. We're different.

Please pray with me. Almighty God, we are so thankful that truly you are never done with us. And God, we are so thankful that as an extension of you, as the living expression of you, we are never apart from you. And so, God, as we are in this place and your Spirit is present with us, may we take from this time all that is appropriate for us to receive. May we continue as we go from this place in the movement of the Spirit, in the movement of the stillness.

And God, may we accept with our heads held high whatever you put on our hearts, without guilt, without shame, without fear, without doubt, but with love and courage to be all that you've called us to be. God, we are thankful. We are so grateful for who you are and who we are because of Christ Jesus.

It's in that most beautiful, most powerful name we pray. Amen.