Lingering

Dear pastor,

I want to ask you a unique and VERY important question…

Are you very good at lingering these days?

Let’s define the word:

• “To remain or stay on in a place longer than is usual or expected, as if from reluctance to leave: ‘We lingered awhile after the party.’ 
• Also: “to dwell in contemplation, thought, or enjoyment: to linger over the beauty of a painting.”
  
  – From Dictionary.com

You may be thinking to yourself: “What a strange question!”

But here is the point.

Pastors seem to be soooo busy (at least in America, much like the culture around us). But when we are the middle of prayer, worship, devotions, conversation, fellowship, etc are we good at lingering? Are we reluctant to leave because we are enjoying the beauty of the moment with God or with others?

I fear that many of us, much of the time, are not tarrying in God’s presence much more than we are lingering in the presence of people. We are in hurry and we can’t seem to go slow. And as a result we aren’t able to savor the moment, be fully present in the moment, or find the fullness and enjoyment that God had planned for the moment.

What if we were in heaven and we didn’t “have time” to spend with Jesus or the people we were seeing because we were so consumed with the idea of seeing more of heaven?!

How silly!

We know that in heaven we will have all the time we could possibly ever need to enjoy every person, every moment, every conversation, every experience.

And here is the reality: God is the God of time and even here on earth we have enough time to be fully present in each moment, lingering until God tells us it is time to leave. So please, this week, today even, pray and ask God to help you to tarry a while in His presence. Ask the Lord to help you relish, cherish and savor every moment you have with whomever you have it with.

You will find much beauty and much to enjoy in life (and ministry!) if you will learn to linger!