Mike Yaconelli in his classic book(I think it is a classic) “Dangerous Wonder” briefly touches upon savoring a moment with God. I am sure others have used it also but it struck me deeply...I suspect because we might speak of savoring the taste of a food. Savoring takes time...and to be honest I can eat a meal quite quickly...and rarely take time to savor the taste of a meal. “Was the steak good?’ I will be asked. I might pause say, “I think so. It went down easily.” 

I love worship and I love being in His presence and have learned to wait on the Lord in those moments to see what might be next or what Holy Spirit wants to do. But that right there is part of the problem I think. Do you see it? What’s next? What are we doing now? Isn’t that the point of worship and His presence? Not really...what if the point is simply He wants to be with us? Isn’t that the Christmas promise? God with us! Yaconelli says, “Savoring takes time. Savoring requires our full attention. Savoring utilizes all of us.”* Understand he is not speaking about worship in general but he is exposing how we have lost the art cherishing, appreciating, relishing God. 

How do I close my mind off to the thoughts racing in my mind to figure out where we are going next to simply savor the moment? Mike tells the story of a dad putting his four year old daughter to bed. In typical fashion there was one more drink of water needed, one more trip to the bathroom, one more story to be heard and finally the dad told the little girl to go to sleep. He went down the hall to his study and was reading or working on something when all of the sudden he knew she was at the door way staring at him...you know how that works. He turned and sure enough there she was. A bit frustrated and a little angry he asked her, “What do you want me to do?”  She moved closer and grabbed his arm and said, “Nothing, Daddy, I just want to be close to you.” In our busy, always in a hurry lives can you hear the whisper of God right there? We are being diligent to wait on the Lord, but there is some impatience in us because we have stuff to do...and think He has stuff for us to do. So maybe we finally just ask Him, “What is it you want me to do? I am waiting.” Quietly He overlooks our attitude and says, “Nothing...I just to be close to you.”*

As I think about holding my son or daughter when they were infants never once did I think things like, “I cannot wait until you can mow the lawn.” I cannot wait until you can feed yourself or drive yourself.” I only wanted to hold them, to enjoy them and to be close to them. And I can say this with all out transparency that if I had the chance to do it over again I would do  a better job at savoring each moment I had with them. 

Savor...I need to think upon this word a bit more...it will not be written in many leadership models unless it is about savoring the wins....successes. Definitely not an aggressive word is it? But it is a word that reminds us to slow down and enjoy God...cherish each moment with Him...each word from Him. Sadly much of the Church has lost the thought of cherishing Him. To appreciate Him. To soak Him in...

Bill

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