Sacred

Blog by Kristen Hicks

Not many words have moved me like this one. It’s one that speaks almost in a whisper and then echoes itself in the distance, creating a reverent fear. One must never take this moment, this space, this chance, this Voice that speaks and changes everything, for granted.

I must say, I didn’t expect my word for this year to come so quickly and clearly. But on Thanksgiving, as I was driving to my grandparent’s house for dinner, Jesus came and sat down in the car with me. The sky was lit up with colors as the sun was setting, and as His Presence filled the space, He said, “This a sacred moment. This drive on this day. This is a sacred moment.”

You know when God speaks and there are all these layers and you understand more than He is saying, while all the while, you have no idea everything He is actually saying? Yes, this is where I was at. I knew immediately that He was declaring this word over me for this year, to teach me and remind me of what it really means to see something as sacred.

2 Timothy 3:2 came flooding to my mind. “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.”

I had read this a couple months before and I felt it marking me. The questions stirring in my heart, “What do I consider sacred? Do I see anything as sacred? What does it even mean?” So I did what so many of us do when we don’t fully understand a word, I googled it. The first definition that popped up was “connected with God”. Then another definition read “regarded with great respect and reverence.”

Ever since that day, I have found my heart in a constant expectation of those moments. The interesting thing is they are only noticed and seen when I have allowed myself to stop and embrace them. They don’t look like one might think. They aren’t shiny, they don’t sparkle, they aren’t just these big, elaborate escapades of once in a lifetime moments, nor are they found in doing some kind religious ritual. No, I am actually finding them in the mundane places. The places we forget to look or rather overlook as normal.

I am finding “sacred” in the morning, when I sit down to have my first cup of coffee, in the deep breaths of looking out my window and being thankful. I’m finding it in the kitchen with my sister as we make dinner, or sharing a meal around a table with friends or family, talking about life and love and Jesus, sharing stories and laughter. I’m finding it in the going on trips and overhearing conversations in the back, delighting in the randomness and intentionality of different personalities interacting. I’m finding it sitting on the couch at night talking through the day—allowing myself to be vulnerable, sharing my heart, my fears, and my tears and listening to whoever I’m with do the same. I’m finding it in reading a card from a friend and allowing myself to be loved and the humility of someone making me feel special. I’m finding it in listening to a song, allowing it to move me, or reading a book that speaks directly into my soul and my season, inviting me into a new place and a new perspective. And I’m finding it in the stillness of the night, walking out on my back porch, the quiet almost deafening, again with the deep breaths reminding me this is all real and that God is exactly who He says He is.

Although these moments are simple, they are life-changing and dare I say miracles. Because like anything miraculous, they are inviting me to marvel with eyes open wide in awe and wonder at who God has always been. Emmanuel. He is just withme. Always. Forever. As Ken Helser says, “ You can find God in everything and miss Him in anything.” This is a sacred idea. To think that He created everything in and through Jesus (Colossians 1) so that we can be connected to Him in friendship and intimacy, all the while in reverence and holy fear that He is Lord and Creator.

I want this year to be different. Not in a new years resolution kind of way, but rather in a change my life and my heart forever kind of way. I want to walk out every day with my heart open to Him being revealed. To allow myself to wait on purpose, not just because He’s making me wait. But to find joy in the waiting on Him. Because I know He’s giving me the opportunity to consider the waiting moments as sacred and connect to His heartbeat, which changes the rhythms of mine.

Even as I sit and write this out, I know that there is so much more. But I also know that in the process of finding the more, I’ll discover and understand more of the sacredness of the life He so graciously gifted me with.