Lately I’ve been thinking about discipleship. At its most basic level, a disciple is
someone that follows Christ. The
question is, once we have chosen to follow Him, how do we best
follow Him? I think we need both a
strong personal relationship with the Lord and
a commitment to doing the work the He has called us to do. All disciples fall somewhere on the spectrum,
but many may find themselves in one of two camps.

In the second camp, disciples are so focused on doing His
work (being His hands, lending their voice, sharing His message, etc.) that they
fail to carve out a proportionate amount of time building a strong, personal
relationship with Him. So often, I know I
get wrapped up in planning the next bible study session, evaluating future
parish book club options, and even talking about Him to others, that I fail to
just spend time with Him myself! That
sounds so ridiculous, but it’s true. I’m
so quick to listen to a faith-building radio program on my daily commute than
to just leave the radio off and talk to Him! A good gut check for me was asking myself how
God
would rate our relationship right now.
Would He say I don’t visit enough, or that I spend too much of my visits
asking Him for things? Worse yet, would
He say I take Him for granted?
Yikes. How do we get so wrapped
up in trying to do the right things that we fail to spend time with the one we’re
doing them for?
The best discipleship, I’m sure, has both the close personal
relationship and His works of love, but if you find yourself in the latter camp
with me, I have some good news; I have an idea….
I was watching my teenager at her club volleyball tournament
recently and noticed that the girls closest to each other on the team had a
personal handshake. You know what I’m
talking about, right? We used to call it
a ‘secret handshake’ but they are often done in public by students, athletes,
etc., so they’re not so “secret” anymore.
However, they are personal, as each unique couple has their own personal
handshake. When I saw my daughter’s
teammates go around the court doing their unique handshakes (which apparently
can sometimes include no use of the hands at all, and weird dance moves instead
now), it made me recall my own personal handshakes. I have one with my husband (the double tap),
and I have one with my daughter (front high five, back high five – I know, I
know – mine aren’t very elaborate), but that
made me think how those make me feel; When I do my personal handshake with
either of them, it feels special, and like our relationship is close and
important to us. Personal handshakes
indicate a bond – something carved out just for the two of you. You create a personal handshake with someone
who means a lot to you, and you like having a unique one that will remind them
how important they are to you. So I ask,
why can’t you have a personal handshake with God? Something just between the two of you. It can be something as simple as a wink, or
something you do fairly often like waving at someone. Make it a part of a personal handshake with
the Lord and I bet it’ll make you smile every time you do it. Sometimes you may notice people doing
whatever you chose, a wink let’s say, and you will know they are unwittingly
allowing God to do your personal handshake back to you.
A personal handshake with the Lord is just one simple
approach to developing a stronger bond with Him. Whatever you need to work on, know that He is
so pleased that you want to become a better version of yourself for Him.
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