“Come sit with me.” This is a simple invitation, and it has taken on a much deeper meaning these days in my life. As a kid, sitting still was one of the hardest things for me. I liked to move. As I got older, I realized there were people that I also like to sit with.
I liked sitting and watching my grandma cook. She was so natural and fluid, everything seemed to have a sequence, and as she worked, her high-pitched whistle of an old hymn felt safe and comfortable. The food was always good.
I liked to sit and watch football with my dad. Monday nights were ours, and after the game, we would talk about it, then watch John Wayne theater until he fell asleep (again).
I liked to sit and talk Jesus with my uncle Del. He had always read and studied a lot, and I loved to knock around practical ways to think about God.
I liked to sit and read to my kids. I would lay next to them in their bed and read, changing the stories to be more like action movies, only to be told - “Dad, that is not how it goes.”
I like to sit and have coffee with Merrily - Heck, I like sitting with her as we drive, watch TV, or anywhere else too.
So our move from California to Tennessee was a lot faster than our stuff. What I mean is that all the stuff we sit on (couches, chairs, barstools, etc.) are right now in a warehouse in Southern CA, and we are in Lebanon, Tennessee. I don’t know when it will get here. Do you want to know what I miss? I miss sitting on something with someone in my home.
You see, furniture is not only about aesthetics or comfort. It is about relationship. When we sit, we talk, think, laugh, pray, dream and plan. When we sit, we eat, study, discuss, tease, tell stories, and love.
I miss sitting on a couch with my people. I miss the invitation to “Come sit with me.”
Every day I get a similar invite from Jesus. “Come sit with me, Leonard.” Let’s talk, laugh, cry, dream and plan. Let’s love, share and create unlimited freedom in your spirit through God the Holy Spirit. Let’s sit. So I do. I grab some pens, my Bible, a cup of coffee, and I sit. This week I have laughed out loud, cried, been taught to live in the freedom of God, found hope, deposited my fears, been encouraged and challenged, been disciplined for my actions and heart, and I have been held as I confessed. In the times of sitting with Jesus, I have been inspired, been rested, heard I am loved, reminded that he is enough. My father is satisfied with me because of Jesus and has been reminded of my calling. When sitting with Jesus, I have talked about you to the only one who “Can and wants to” do more in your life than you can imagine and anguished over people I love, only to be comforted by the reality that the one with whom I sit loves them more. “Come sit with me, Leonard.”
I hope and pray this week you would hear this invitation too - more than that, you would say yes. For me, it begins with coffee, a chair, and my Bible. Sitting involves some reading, some talking, and some listening. Sitting includes honesty, humility, and transparency - the ONE with whom I sit is safe. Give it a try - Say yes and become.