I bought Gracie a new book last week. It's the Secret Keeper Girls Bible Study, called my Best Friend Jesus. How cool is that? It really teaches kids, especially girls, all about the special relationship they can have with Jesus. Gracie loves it...she loves all things Jesus, God, Bible, worship, and the like. I love to hear her pray...it's like God is right in front of her face and He's her best friend that she can spill her heart to. She inspires me...or, I should say, God inspires me through her, every day.

About two years ago Gracie and I went with our church youth group to Camp Caswell...me as a chaperone, Gracie as a tag along. Each night at Caswell, after supper was finished, all 1100-1200 attendees gather in Hatch Auditorium for worship. Worship there involves a live band, dramas and a speaker (and God, of course!!). Now, I will tell you, we've always been very frank with Gracie about God. No beating around the bush, He is who He is and we've always been very up front about having a relationship with Him, not to treat God as an obligation. That is not me putting myself on a pedestal, that is me telling you Paul and I attempt, in every way to be obedient to God and raise the very one that He blessed us with in His sight and according to His will. Long story short, about three nights into camp, we were all getting tired but having a blast. During one of the worship songs...a slow, melodic song called Lead Me to the Cross...I look down, expecting to see Gracie coloring, but all I see is her bawling her little eyes out. I look up at our group...seeing varying expressions as they all looked on, some singing, some looking very bored, some texting and some with their hands raised in praise. And I looked again at my precious gift from God, crying on the pew beside me. I sat down beside her and pulled her into my lap and asked the obvious question..."What's wrong baby?" And as she looked up at me with her big, hazel eyes, her lashes heavy with tears, she sobbed "nothing, these are happy tears". Happy tears (I've since determined, this is a term coined by my child, she's used it many times since)?? She explained, because, you see, this mommy was to human to realize what the Holy Spirit was doing to my daughter...He was bringing her into His presence and giving her a true heart of worship. This little, six year old girl, got it. She got it better than most adults, better than most of the kids, and certainly better than me. She explained that she was so happy that Jesus died for her, that He was willing to be tortured and suffer for the bad things that she does, and that she just didn't understand how He could love her that much, but that she sure did love Him back. Okay, so I'm crying now, just reliving it.

Why do we, as adults, find worship so hard? Are we so consumed with worrying about what others will think that we can't worship the way God intends? Don't get me wrong...if you're not a hand raiser, I'm not judging...everyone worships in a different way. There is nothing wrong with sitting in you chair, or on your pew during worship time...your worship is between you and God, it doesn't have to be outward. He loves for us to worship outwardly and show the world our love for Him, yes, but it's not necessary to have a wonderful, complete, loving relationship with Him. But worship is not only for the eleven o'clock hour on Sunday. Worship is 24/7. Worship...in a nutshell...is your life. How we live our lives, our witness for God, how others see us live our lives (when it glorifies God) is our worship. So let's marinate on that for a moment or two. Is your worship evident in your life? Forget Sunday morning for a minute...how about the other 167 hours a week? Yep, we are all human, not a one of us is perfect. Sometimes, even oftentimes, our life may not reflect our relationship with Christ...but when we put Him at the center...stay in His word and live it...little by little our lives will become worship...24/7.

I love worship now...I see how affected Gracie is by His Holy Spirit...and I want the same feeling. I want that all consuming, exhilirating, beautiful feeling of worship in my life, on more than just Sundays. I'm getting there...and it's wonderful. Not all the time, but me and God, we're working on it. It's a triumphant thing to worship a risen King...THE risen King...