It’s time to Lean In

 

There’s an interesting expression bouncing around in the world today. “Lean in.”

You hear it thrown around regularly in a variety of contexts. What it means, in a nutshell, is to embrace, to fully engage with, or to actively pursue something.

“Leaning into” something implies a proactive and enthusiastic approach to something rather than a passive, cautious or hesitant approach.

“Leaning into” something can also imply a willingness to face challenges or difficulties head-on and make the most of the situation. It’s about being bold and unreserved in your approach to a particular part of life. It’s persevering in spite of risk or difficulty.

So, how does all this relate to us in our Christian walk today?

What do you do when you’re in a season of life you don’t want to be in? You may be right now, living through a season you are not enjoying. You may be facing difficulties, unwanted, insurmountable, frightening and confusing.

You may be frustrated with the story God is writing. And in your frustration, you hear his voice saying, “lean in, my child, lean in”. Perhaps the very season you’re going through is an important season, and you’re not supposed to miss it. You’re supposed to LEAN IN.

We make our vision boards, whether figuratively or physically, and what we put on them often looks nothing like what we end up going through. We plan out our lives in neatly organized boxes of allotted times and then comes an unexpected season.

These may be seasons where we feel unnoticed, and limited and fruitless, where doors seem to shut more than they open, where we feel forgotten, our talents wasted or invisible. Or maybe they are seasons of hardship through ill health or death of a loved one, or busyness that leads to physical and mental exhaustion.

Sure, these seasons were not on our vision boards, but is complaining going to make it any better? What if these months or years have more purpose and meaning than we imagined?

What if by not leaning in, we miss something great?

What if by not willingly facing the challenge head on, making the most of the situation, being enthusiastic and boldly embracing the season, we miss what it is God is trying to teach us?

What if God wants you to lean in? What if he wants you to trust him more fully? What if he wants surrender? Surrender to his will. Surrender to what he has called you to.

What if he wants you to embrace fully the season you’re in by giving yourself wholeheartedly to the task at hand, doing the best you can, for his glory, even when you don’t know the outcome or understand how to navigate it.

What is it that God has called you to do? Lean in. In spite of the risk or the difficulty. Lean in. Despite the darkness of the path ahead. Lean in.

When David was waiting to be King, his season of hiddenness and those long years of discouragement, living life on the run, were times of growth. They were times to lean in.

While Moses was a shepherd in the desert, a hidden season, before he would lead the people out from Egypt, it was time to lean in.

Joseph, sold as a slave, forgotten in a prison for doing the right thing, used his season to lean in.

And even the Lord Jesus himself spent 30 years of his life, in obscurity. Of his thirty-three years walking on this earth, only three of them were in public ministry. No crowds. No public platform. No popularity. As far as we know, he was a simple carpenter’s son, hidden from the world until God’s appointed time. He leaned in to his season.

I think we would all do well to learn to lean in. We all too often spend whole seasons of our lives discontent, discouraged, frustrated and angry at God, all the while missing out on what he has for us in that season. We don’t actively look for the lessons. We don’t give ourselves to him to be used for his glory. We don’t lean in.

These seasons of our lives are there to refine us. To make us more like Christ. To build into us Godly character. They are there to deepen our faith. To teach us reliance on God. To grow our spiritual roots and anchor us.

Embrace the season you’re in by:

Doing the best you can with what God has given you. (Colossians 3:23)

Working wholeheartedly and walking joyfully towards his calling on your life. (Philippians 3:14)

Being patient with the process and the length of the season. God knows better than you how long he needs you to stay in it. (Psalm 27:14)

Look for the lessons along the way. Be alert to what he wants to teach you. (Proverbs 3:13)

Seek his face daily and ask him for guidance. (Proverbs 3:5,6)

Develop a heart of gratitude, taking time to thank him regularly for everything. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Be content in the season. Despite what you feel or whatever the circumstances, stay content! (Hebrews 13:5)

Trust that God knows what he’s doing and is doing what is best for you as he works to mold you more into his likeness. (Job 23:10)

Don’t let a so-called bad season of your life determine your future attitude. Use it as a growing period.

You’re not being buried, you’re being planted.

If you don’t resist God’s hand, if you lean in, you will see fruit.

Embrace the season and lean in.