Belonging

Cool thoughts I had a few days ago:

I'm one of those people who loves to be "in the know". I love to really belong. I love to be in charge, in the inner circle. I feel more comfortable when I know what is going on, when I make the decisions, or at least am around to see them made. I like to be on the inside, the behind the scenes, planning things, making them happen. I like to be involved.
I hate being an outsider.
This has a little bit to do with why I like youth group so much more as a sponsor than I did as a student. And even then, as a student I was on the student leadership team, in the worship band, in charge of the (very short-lived) drama team, you know, super-involved. I think this also has to do with why I like being a life group leader better than just being part of a life group. It's part of why I loved babysitting so much in highschool. Not just because kids are super awesome to hang out with (they are!), but also because I was in charge. I got to make the rules.
It's part of what I like about my job. As the student admin, I get to be behind the scenes, creating the materials for the projects and workshops, making the mailings, helping make decisions about when and where and what. I get the privileged knowledge that others don't have. It's pretty sweet, to me.

So I don't particularly know if this is a good trait to have or not (I think a little of both). But what I do know that is cool, that God brought to my mind as I was thinking about this, is that as a follower of Christ, as a child of God, I am on the inside. I belong. I am in the most important "know" that has ever existed. As The Message puts it in Ephesians 2:11-13, "It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything."

Now, I think that is pretty awesome.