What makes you interesting.

My Grandma and Aunt came to visit me this last week.   They left today and my whole scoot back to work I was holding back tears.  As soon as I walked into my office my co-worker saw me and I burst into tears.  She hugged me and I got snot all over her jacket.  *True love right there*

My grandma is my favorite person in the whole world.  When she told me she was coming across the country to visit I couldn’t contain my excitement.  I told *EVERYONE* about it.

Not to mention the hundreds of stories I told people about my grandma before I knew she was coming.

My grandma is the mother of all the Curtins.  All of our shenanigans originate in the daring, effervescent, spontaneous 84 year old who went home one day and said, “I think I want to take a trip…”

My grandma hates inconveniencing people.  Little does she know that she never inconveniences anyone.  Instead, she brings joy to everyone she meets.  If I could be anything like this godly, spunky woman when I am 84, I will be pleased.

My grandma went to North Carolina, Maryland, and San Diego before she got to me, and she did a lot of stuff.  I tried to think of things we could do around here without walking too much.  Well, if you’ve ever been to the North West, you quickly realize that God has blessed this land with plush, green grass and breezy beach fronts.  Which means, most of the “what to do’s” here include nature walks.

When grandma originally planned her trip I was working as a Barista and the end of August was going to be a good time for me to ask for some time off.  Well, then I switched jobs, and turns out, the weekend grandma was here was the weekend all the students arrived on campus and I had to work like way overtime.

She and my aunt came to see my office, and as we walked on the sidewalk to my building she gripped my hand and said, “Shanna, I think your life is very interesting.”  

That swirled through my mind for a good long while.  What makes *MY* life so interesting?  I mean, if you watched a video of my life, this evening you would have watched me go to the grocery store in my gym shorts and a lime green t-shirt with a raccoon carrying a fish on it.  You would have seen me think about whether or not to change, and come to the conclusion that I wouldn’t see anyone I know, so it wouldn’t matter anyway.

You would have seen me park and get out of my car just in time to watch all the new students getting off a bus and walking in to the store.  You would have watched me stand in line with my head down as they filled the lines around me at the register.  You would have watched me drive home and try to carry all the groceries inside in 2 trips.  You would have watched me attempt to balance a gallon of milk on the trunk with 2 dozen eggs in my hand and you would have seen my huge eye roll as the milk smashed on to the pavement and emptied onto my driveway.

Other than an entertaining episode for a sitcom, I never really thought about my life as something to interest anyone.  I mean, I have a great time, but how could my life interest anyone other than myself?

And this is something I have been dwelling on throughout this last week.  What makes a person “interesting”?

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Not gonna lie, I know some terribly boring Christians.

I think part of what makes a person interesting is the challenges they face.  And some Christians put themselves in situations where they don’t need to be challenged.  But, stories that entertain people include an obstacle someone has to overcome.  Stories that captivate people involve people trying to get from point A to point B without driving over the cardboard cutout mom pushing a baby stroller.  And a story is even more captivating if a person can yield the cardboard family with grace and dignity, or even pull over and give the cardboard family a lift to their destination.

God calls us all to different things and we all have different obstacles.  Someone doesn’t need to travel the world and have an extravagant job in order to be interesting, they just need to be challenged.  And that challenge can be, how to love the person you have chosen to spend the rest of your life with and serve them the way that Jesus served his disciples.  Your challenge could be, how to raise children who fully embrace the love of Jesus in a world with so many questions and heartache.  Or, you challenge can be, how to explain the good news to someone who doesn’t speak the same language as you.

We all have different challenges.  None of them are better or worse than another, but all of them must be faced in order for us to follow Jesus.  All of them must be faced to make us interesting.  Following Jesus is interesting, it is riveting!  But truly following Jesus means that you will have challenges!

Sometimes God does take us the places we want to go, and it may seem like one person’s life is very easy as they “minister to people in Hawaii.”  But never underestimate the challenges God places in front of someone else, because he is doing a good work in them.  

So, what makes me interesting?  Maybe at this point you think I am horribly dull.  But as I pondered my grandma’s words, I was encouraged.  My stories are normally ridiculous and can be funny sometimes, but I don’t think that those are the basis of my “interesting-ness”.

I have been told by many people that my life is like a sitcom, or I should have my own sitcom.  My life is one ridiculous thing after another, and my stories do make people laugh.  But, just like any show on television, if my ridiculous stories weren’t held together by a greater plot, my life would soon become very mundane.

What is my plot?  “A twenty-somethings girl tries to figure out how to live life in various cultures while engaging her faith and sharing herself with those around her.  She struggles with doubt, purpose, and loneliness while she watches everyone else ‘have it all figured out.’  But amidst her struggles, something greater is at work molding her into who she was created to be.” I know, I could totally be a tv show critique, eh?

I miss my grandma all the time.  And every time I talk to her, I am filled with the heartache of being so far from her.  She got me this plaque one time that resides on my wall and says, “She wasn’t where had been, she wasn’t where she was going, but she was on her way.

God is doing something greater.  God is reigning in the spunk and spontaneity to bring him glory through the interesting and ridiculous stories.  And as I delight myself in him he is giving me the desires of my heart.