I once heard Beth Moore, who happens to be one of my FAVORITES say, “Eat it before you tweet it!” She was teaching about the importance of us allowing revelation from God to settle in before we go and talk about it…sigh. In our culture that is so fast-paced, we’ve lost the art of letting life lessons simmer in our hearts, slowly, sweetly. Often when God is teaching us brilliant lessons in private, we feel they cannot be validated until we have posted it in the public eye to be viewed by others. God help us, really, just bless our needy hearts. Last year, the Father gave me some very sacred experiences that were so special I dared not commit pen to paper to even record them in my personal journals…they were just too precious to try to recap. Being the avid and faithful journaler that I am, I kept wondering what was wrong with me as, every time I would attempt to journal my experiences, I felt like I was about to expose a secret from a dear friend.

So, I waited…I still have not written down the details of these special moments. I feel it coming though. For now, I will share the parts that are most endearing to me, from which I have chewed on and extracted every ounce of meaning and magic I could from. Last year I was in a strange space. I was hopeful, and I was tired. I hadn’t been asking for anything particularly special from God. I was just hungry. I was desperate for a deeper understanding of His truth, His joy, his mystery. I wanted it to spill over, I wanted to taste the deep things of His heart. I ended up getting invited to Florida in December, to be with a friend and see one of our favorite artists in concert. I was completely elated by the news and in complete disbelief over the invitation!

My mom found a ridiculously good deal on a plane ticket and I was off to Florida on an early Sunday morning flight. Once I landed, I was more than thrilled to see my friend on whom I had not laid eyes on for several months. Once we began to share, I realized she was in a very hard space. It was dark, lonely, pain-filled. It was unclear and frightening. I was concerned about what to say to help her. I did not want to give her cliché Christianism, to ease my own pain over her pain. Maybe the best thing to do was just to sit with her in that pain. The weekend was filled with bittersweet moments. I was both humbled and honored to be in that space with her, I preferred that over her suffering alone. I tried my best not to over-comfort while offering every ounce of joy I could without coming off as plastic or annoying. We both enjoyed the concert, more than I can even express. Yes, the concert was magical beyond description, but it was the experience of joy mixed with sorrow shared between two hearts that was more amazing than could ever be expressed through words.

This is the first time I have felt permission to share that experience, and its delayed exposure has been very intentional. The Father has been teaching me the importance of guarding sacred things, I love the passage in the Bible when Jesus was saying very curious and profound things at a young age. It says that Mary pondered the things in her heart. Not with others, not on social media, not through pictures, but in her heart, in the quiet where, with proper space and time, treasures can develop and grow. I am not saying that posting and processing with others are not good. I am saying, it is a thrill to sense when certain things need protecting.

God hides things that are precious to Him….consider the development of a baby. It grows in darkness and beauty in a womb, hidden away until it has extracted all the nutrients it can from that living space. It grows until the space is no longer appropriate for the size it has become. This is how I am learning to view experiences that are deep, painful, beautiful, and sacred. Even in the profound revelations that I receive and know will, one day, set others free, I am learning to allow them to fully free me first, to walk in them and let my life do the teaching and telling.

When we allow the outside to be the thing that validates us and how we act and react in the world, we begin to compromise the integrity and purpose of what it is we’re growing in. And in my humble opinion, it cheapens the value of a thing that is learned, experienced, and cultivated in darkness. So friends, let’s be guardians and protectors of sacred things friends. Let’s allow ourselves to, maybe, not post about, or share, something on which we ourselves need to continue chewing. Let’s dare ourselves to skip a few weeks of socializing our lives in public, in order to embrace quiet slow lessons. It may not be popular, but the concept is definitely timeless, and won’t ever go out of style! And that’s a real sacred treasure!

I have created a term I would like to introduce to you that I will use to communicate from time to time. It’s called “BLIP.” A blip is when I want to give tips, and they end up being long-winded or seeming blog-like, hence the word BLIP! So in this introductory BLIP, I would love to share some things and encouragements with you! It’s gonna be a good season!