I've listened to all the chatter that we women love to engage in and I am noticing a disturbing trend that basically boils down to what we don't do.

• I don't do Facebook
• I don't do women's events
• I don't do small talk

Because -

• It's just so fake
• They're just so typical
• It's all so trite

Which causes me to wonder - what it is that we as women really want? We want friends. We want to be known and understood. We want to spend time together. We want to find a safe place where we can be ourselves without fear of rejection. And we want to help each other to live and grow and become more and more like the Jesus we know and love. The Jesus who left the glory of Heaven, the deep fellowship with His Father, and the community of saints and angels, and came down a cloud or two, to a broken world filled with broken people, because He loved us enough to meet us where we are.

Perhaps it’s all about loving women with logic. For instance:

• I hate grocery shopping, but I love food and I love to cook, so. . .
• I hate getting my hair done but I also hate looking more like a Lhasa Apso than a cover girl for AARP. So. . .
• And I love women soooo . . . I go to the places where women gather. And women gather on Facebook. They gather in coffee shops. They bump into each other at grocery stores and hair salons. They mingle at women’s events. And, in all these things, they do small talk.  Because small talk is a prelude to bigger talk. Deep talk. Life changing words that fit us into each other’s lives from here to Eternity.

Please hear my heart; I love deep talk. But I also love shoes, and bling, and puppies. I love movies and coupons that save me fifty percent off the original price. I love cleaning products, (I know, I’m crazy that way) and sometimes I talk about all these things and more while on the way to the deeper end of the pool. And sometimes it takes more than one conversation to get there. 

All this to say - if we want to go deep we have to first go shallow. If we want to be women who affect the lives of other women we just have to be willing to really be like Jesus and walk selflessly into the places where women can be found, meet them where they are, and be willing to begin with the humble things; the things that take us down a cloud or two, so God can work His magic in us and through us for His glory.

So, perhaps what women need is the freedom to enjoy the shallow while on the way to deep. That’s why I’m so excited about our theme for REVIVE 2016 - In Deep. I know. It’s a women’s event. You might find it being chatted about on Facebook. And there most likely will be some small talk going on. But trust me - the shallow end is just the beginning of our plunge into the depths of God’s love for women.

And when I see you there, feel free to show me your shoes before you show me your heart.

My purpose is that they may be encouraged, that they may be joined together in love, and that they may have all the riches derived from being assured of understanding and fully knowing God’s secret truth, which is — the Messiah! It is in him that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
Colossians 2:2,3 CJB