how choosing whimsy helps us grow

There's this new found joy I am experiencing about the sprinkles I recently added to my life.

Or, as Bob Goff calls it, my choosing of whimsy.

Driving in my *sophisticated fun*, I have discovered a brotherhood of sorts.

I notice fellow MINI drivers and they notice me. I am not surprised anymore when they beep or wave as we pass each other. Like motorcyclists. Or cyclists. Or truckers. It's a nod to the fun we're experiencing. A connection we share.

Sometimes choosing whimsy opens us up to community.

I might look a little foolish in the winter when if we have snow again. But, my own little world has gotten a little bit bigger as I watch people on the street notice a different kind of car among them, and I notice the drivers passing by who have chosen a similar kind of whimsy. Instead of rushing by, I am more aware.

In my noticing, grace has made me see how I, too, am noticed. We all want to be noticed in some way, including me. There's a part of me that is uncomfortable about this because I sometimes feel shame over this truth and who I am.

Sometimes whimsy shows us there's no shame in living our real selves out loud.

Choosing *practical* is sometimes living with boundaries. 

It closes us in so tight that we don't even notice others. Our self-imposed rules box us in to ourselves and our tiny little world.

I just want the freedom that comes along with being noticed. I want to live uncaged, as Mary DeMuth encourages. God is doing this in me through my whimsy.

He has given me courage to choose Fun. Risk. Different.

And when what was not-first gear-but-actually-reverse-(!) makes a little dent, He's softened my heart to choose grace and actually appreciate that lasting impression. Because, life is good and we all make mistakes--myself included.

I've decided that if this whimsy has some hidden quirk and falls apart in the next month, I'm not going to chagrin myself for choosing it. I'm going to choose gratefulness for the courage to trust that it was a good choice for me at that time.

We can't always see what is best for us. But we can choose freedom. 

And this is worship.

So I lift my hand and wave. To the whimsy. And grace.

Thank you, Lord, for whimsy...community...freedom...

     and for continuing to show me what worship is all about. 

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