I’m doing this series called Occupy Life where I focus on sometimes small and sometimes giant moments that make up the days of our lives. We are all occupying physical time and space (whether you are passionate about it or not) every single day the sun rises and every night when it sets. So, what if we started thinking about our every moment as a statement – as our purpose with a proverbial picket line? Here’s number three.

I’m not sleeping.

No, really. I woke up this morning and I said, “I think little animals could hide in the bags under my eyes.”

Ale (pronounced AH-LEH, by the way) told me on our way out the door today, “I do think the no sleep is catching up with me… but I don’t care – we just have too much to talk about is the problem!”

I agree. Not a moment wasted.

Yesterday (and early into the morning), Alejandra and I occupied life with questions like, “What drives you?” and “Is it possible to love Chemistry and ministry at the same time?” and then processing conversations about the ways Christians can close doors in conversations instead of open them. We occupied life like a waterfall occupies a cliff – with words tripping over words and questions following answers.

Even with ten days full of almost non-stop, catching up conversation, we both talk like this minute is the last one we could analyze things together. When a good idea or a solution to a question or a realization or a dream happens, our eyes get real big and we purse our lips like what we just said is almost too good to bring down to the level of words. It’s like finding a treasure and then being physically unable to do anything but gesture wildly and squeal silently in excitement.

This morning, as we were getting ready, she said, “I have an idea – we can do a devotion after my class,” because on the first night (as we talked nearly in to our sleep), she told me, “This is very weird… usually I do two devotions every night – I promise! It’s just that I don’t know where to find the time because of our talks!”

The problem is legitimate, but as she said it this morning, I started to form a philosophy about how our time is woven together with the Lord. Yesterday, we hit up the life of Job, Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica, and our calling as children of God – all in between and around our adventures and mixed in with a lot of laughter and serious pondering. So, I was forming this idea of “doing devotions” as we occupy the steps of life – carrying around the Word like it’s written right on our hearts and hidden in a treasure chest in our minds. I was forming this idea and Ale says,

“Miss, I have an idea. I think we don’t make a time for devotions because we are the devotions… like we do a devotion all day long.”

Not only was I excited that we both arrived at the same conclusion, but my heart lept with joy that we both believe a relationship with the Lord is alive and active and occupies our souls 24/7. The words from Scripture jump into our conversations and mix in with our laughter and inform our philosophies about how the world turns.

The process is always as beautiful as the conclusion – like the thrill of preparing a delicious cupcake and then serving it to someone to enjoy. Both the preparation and the presentation are equally satisfying (as the chef).

This is an example of an occupied life where every moment is oh-so-delicious!