People say it’s in the quiet where we can most easily find Him. Not because He is quiet. Not necessarily. Not because He is calm. Not consistently. But because the distractions come fierce and loud. And our hearts—fragile, on their own—need Him to pull us back to the beginning, the pure place, with Him. And yes, I think this is true. Jesus, we need you. Grab hold of our hearts and bring us to You. We can more readily access the messages of our own hearts, and connect with Jesus’, when we practice silence, give space for our minds and hearts and imaginations to be present to God. When media blares and relationships demand and work pressures, our hearts become overwhelmed. And while silence, space with Jesus, restores us—reminding us what is true and what is not, there is another step we need to take: We need to do more than petition the throne. Because in our loneliness, we cry out. In our weariness, we cry out. In our desire for more—more love, more breakthrough, more healing, more hope, we cry out. And in the midst of our petitioning, Jesus asks this simple question, “What are you willing to do, to get more of me?”Are you willing to trust me with your relationships? Are you willing to walk away from what feels safe, if I ask you to? Are you willing to run toward the people I give you to love, even if it’s hard? Are you willing to trust me with your talents? Are you willing to let me show you how I’ve made you and what is getting in the way of trusting me more? Are you willing to let go of having the answers, let me search your heart, help you discern the reasons for your restlessness, your brooding, your hunger for more and more and more of me? A guide for me on this journey, a man wise and disruptive in the best ways, tells me, “Give everything and everyone to Jesus.” Relinquish control. “Give Him everything as if you are done.” As if I am done. As if I am . . . done. Letting go of trying to control what we can’t, of what we shouldn’t, while contending for what is good—for more Jesus, more connection with Him—grants peace we will never find through the desire to strive and control. Being done means the end of striving. Being done means turning our backs on fear. Being done means intimacy with Jesus. Being done means living in wide-open space where life is more than what we see and hear and feel. Being done means stepping forward into the deeper place, a place where heaven comes down, we see God’s face, feel his touch, hear his voice. Jesus, I am done. Let us be done. For in being done we enter the beginning. A fresh way to live in a world that rages, that overwhelms, that is more than we are designed to bear. We are given more, now, than we can bear on our own. Being done is owning Holy Spirit’s strength in us to do what our Father desires us to do. Being done is craving the Father’s desires. It is having our desires be his. Being done means no separation from our heart and Jesus’. It means more joy, more light, more capacity for love. When we are done with this life of striving and control we are ready for Jesus to fill our hearts and soul so there is room for nothing else. I want to be done. I want to be done. So, I seek His heart and I listen for His voice and I act. Give everything and everyone to Jesus as if you are done. And greater intimacy with our King and Savior is here. Right now. Let’s be done.

Name your struggle to lay down control. What grips you? How do you want to be done?