It is no secret that I love Bob Goff and also his precious wife he calls sweet Maria. I loved them right away because Hugh always called me sweet Karen. One time he just called me Karen and I got my feelings hurt.
Part of the charm of Bob Goff is how whimsical and carefree and full of wonder he is and the biggest charm is how he treats sweet Maria. I loved her before I met her because of all the sweet and adoring things he tells about her. I am reading her book and getting to know her heart and the things that she recovered from to get to where she is now.
Until I read her book I assumed she started out that way and as is mostly the case with us humans she started with some things that she needed to burn all the way down and start from scratch and so if you want to know the whole scoop read her book, Love Lives Here. I will however share a few things that got me and also the topic, Burning it all down was already running around in my heart and my head.
There is an AA speaker called Sandy B and he was a great storyteller and a legend in the recovery world. He had sage wisdom and when he spoke I listened up and I think the rest of the recovery community did as well. One day when I heard him speak, he said to a hungry room: “Don’t worry, all you have to do is change everything!!!” You could have heard a pin drop and some hearts stopped beating for a moment. But you know that is the truth, having a spiritual awakening either changes everything or it changes nothing!!! Bob Goff enthusiastically said last week that a relationship with Christ will change everything or nothing.
In sweet Maria’s book, she shared the story of when their beautiful lodge in Canada burned to the ground. When there was nothing left but ash and rubble she realized that in some instances as with our life it was better than if it was burned all the way.
“Nothing remains of the lodge. The intensity of the fire even destroyed the foundations. That takes a lot of heat. But you know what? I’m kind of glad it did. If there were even one charred beam still standing after the fire, I’d be tempted to use it to rebuild.” ` Maria Goff.
As humans, we are tempted to hold on to things that no longer serve us. We want to mesh the good stuff into our lives but keep some of our bad habits or old worn-out beliefs of what we used to be. We are sometimes like that scorched house, it is better to burn it to the ground and start from scratch!!! New wood, new foundation, new you.
This season of Covid and the realization that lives are being lost and families are suffering and so many of us are questioning what is and what is not important anymore. We are trying to decide what of our old pre-covid lives we need to hang on to and what needs to go away and never come again. What if anything needs to stay the same?
Tomorrow I had a full day planned but instead, it is far more important to greet a friend and at my office and make sure his grieving kid has some time with our kids. We will play and swim and do whatever we need to do to love each other and comfort each other. Jocey knows what it is like to say goodbye to her mama way too soon. She has a compassion that can only be born from losing something so precious so young. She is finding out at a young age that what remains, after all, is lost is the most important. Loving each other well!!!
Most of my friends until now have not had to suffer such community and family loss. Our children if we let them will learn that there are so many things that we value that are valueless and so much of our time is spent in acquiring and protecting things that are easily burned to the ground. I think this generation is going to be strong and resilient and hopefully, all of us are learning to love one another more deeply and finding endearing things about our loved ones and ourselves.
I pray that this season, that it changes everything about me that needs to be changed. I want all that does not serve me or others to burn away. I want anything that is not needed to be left behind and I pray that I never ever forget to stop what I am doing and love somebody, right now and not wait till tomorrow.