SHOW UP AND TAKE WHAT COMES UP
A wise man (Dan Tocchini) once said to me, “show up and take what comes up.” I have done well to live by that motto for the better half of my life. Showing up is the first step to everything good in your life.
Show up
When you show up you are fully present. You are in one place at one time. My natural state is to be somewhere else in my head. Getting my head and body in the same room is a start. Focusing my attention on the person or problem at hand (sometimes they are the same thing) is the next step. The last part requires trust in God and yourself.
Take what comes up
You have to believe you know enough, are enough and are able enough to face whatever happens. There are too many variables in life to be prepared for them all. You can’t have a plan for every situation. There is no way to think of every contingency. Show up and take what comes up.
You may be more ready than you realize
There is a lot going in your favor. You have more ability to adapt to changing situations than you might think. The fact that you have God living in you helps. Trust that God will guide you. Have faith in the fact that you’ve been guided thus far. Act with confidence that God will work it all out for good even if you screw it up.
God might surprise you
We commissioned that table in the picture to be built as the front and center icon of our church. It sits out in front as a message that all are invited to the table with Jesus. My vision was that we would have great banquets and share meals there. One day that will happen.
But right now God has turned it into a symbol of feeding the poor in the community. Stacked donated produce was packed by volunteers wearing masks during a pandemic ready to be delivered to people who have lost jobs in our community. They did it in the lobby that we designed for gathering, not for food packing and blood donations.
We didn’t plan for any of this. We didn’t intend to get into the produce distribution business. But we don’t live live in a step by step plan. We show up and take what comes up. We adapt to the situation at hand. Of course we could complain that it’s not the way we planned. But who would listen? And what would the one listening think of our silly complaint?
Don’t wait for a perfect plan before you show up. God is more than able to make you adequate to any situation.
- Todd