The Invitations in our Inspirations | Ep. 40 with Diana Mescher

:: 00:01:22

Host

You're listening to the No Great Areas podcast with Patrick McCullough. Today's guest is that in a measure Shepherd, Speaker and encourager Diana helps us find the invitations in our inspirations. Let's dove in.

:: 00:15:21

Patrick McCalla

Welcome to the No Gray Areas podcast. Diana, it's great having you here. We actually worked together for about two years.

:: 00:21:05

Diana Mescher

That's right. Pat, it's so good to see you again. I love learning from you. I love watching your life. An example. So thanks for having me.

:: 00:27:20

Patrick McCalla

Well, I feel the same about you. And we actually we were working at a church together when COVID hit. That's right. So we've actually done a lot of this kind of stuff together because everything had to go digital. We had to pivot really quickly.

:: 00:38:22

Diana Mescher

Yeah, we spent lots of hours in a studio filming on an uncomfortable couch for the record.

:: 00:44:12

Patrick McCalla

Yes. You hated that couch, right? You, Mike and I would sit on that couch sometimes. I think we were doing like five a week or something. That's very early days, like we were shooting every day. Every day. And. Yeah, yeah, that was that was crazy. So and I used to always joke about this. Only the listeners who are watching will know this.

:: 01:02:10

Patrick McCalla

I feel like you need a booster seat right now, right? Because you sit up straight and how tall are you?

:: 01:07:18

Diana Mescher

I'm six foot, so pretty tall.

:: 01:09:09

Patrick McCalla

And I'm five foot. Nine inch. So. So you already have three inches on me. And so I feel like I should have a booster seat, but most people are just listening. They can't see, so we're fine. Well, Diana, you actually when we were talking back and forth recently, you talked about moving from inspiration to invitation, which I thought was so fascinating.

:: 01:29:21

Patrick McCalla

What do you mean by that? Like you're saying, we as we as people need to move from being inspired to being invited.

:: 01:35:07

Diana Mescher

Well, think about it. Many of us are inspired often we're inspired by different things. Maybe it's someone's resiliency, their story, their success. But what if inspiration isn't the end goal to say, wow, that was an incredible story. They're amazing. Look what they accomplished. But what if every story that inspires us actually holds an invitation for you and for me?

:: 01:56:07

Diana Mescher

What if our life could actually be impacted by their story of inspiration?

:: 02:00:20

Patrick McCalla

It's so good because when I first when you first sent that to me, inspiration, the invitation wasn't quite sure what you meant by that. I thought I knew what you meant. But I think that is true, that as a society and as a culture and just as people in general, we're often inspired by people, people, stories. But you're saying if that's where it stops, we're missing something.

:: 02:19:20

Diana Mescher

I think you're missing out. Like, think about the people that have inspired you are there for me. I have people, my family, my grandma Smith has inspired me. But I love to read a little bit of a nerd, but love to read documentaries and books and and autobiographies. And I think of.

:: 02:34:04

Patrick McCalla

Always apologize for being a nerd with documentaries. And I always remind you I love documentaries. Right. So two of us nerding out right now.

:: 02:40:16

Diana Mescher

Here we go. You're welcome. Yeah. No, but I think of like the life of Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsy, and they were in Nazi Germany area in a concentration camp. And her sister says to her, Betsy, she says, Corrie, yes, we're in a concentration camp. Yes, we're in the most crowded barracks that there is. But we have fleas and we need to thank God for the fleas because that means that the guards aren't coming in here at night and we can host a Bible study.

:: 03:06:19

Diana Mescher

Wow, that's crazy. Like in the midst of horrible circumstances that none of us would want to choose to be in, Betsy said we're supposed to give thanks in all circumstances. Let's find something to be thankful for. She said, Let's thank God for the fleas. Yeah. Now, when I hear that story, I'm inspired by your faith and I'm inspired by her resilience.

:: 03:26:00

Diana Mescher

And her endurance. But sometimes I can say, That's incredible. Betsy, you go, girl. Like all those years ago. And I go about my life and I complain about traffic, or I am frustrated in something in my life. And I wonder if her story of inspiration actually has a seed of an invitation for me that I can pay attention to and say What if I, too, could find something to be thankful for, no matter how difficult or no matter how mundane or annoying the circumstances I find myself in.

:: 03:56:01

Diana Mescher

That's how you take an inspirational story. You find the invitation in it that can apply to your life.

:: 04:01:16

Patrick McCalla

Something sense. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And you were hitting a little close to home on that one when you think about complaining about traffic or something, because that's totally what I do. And I know exactly the story you're talking about. I read that book when I was in like junior high or high school I've seen the movie. I've reread the book as an adult, and I remember that part of the story where she's telling her, like, we can thank God that we have fleas.

:: 04:22:02

Patrick McCalla

So the gardener. But then I'll turn around that afternoon and complain about some silly little thing, right?

:: 04:27:00

Diana Mescher

Me too. Yeah, all of the time. And I've just found what if we pay attention to the things that inspire us often are grabbing our attention for some reason. And for me, a person of faith. I also hope that the things I'm inspired by are things that God would be pleased by. Yeah. Things that he too would say that is good, and that is faithful and that is part of the ways of Jesus.

:: 04:48:13

Diana Mescher

And if that's the case, then I really want to lean in and pay attention. Yeah, not perfectly, but it's just a new habit I've been working to cultivate.

:: 04:56:10

Patrick McCalla

Well, and you bring that an important point out. You're a person of faith. I'm a person of faith. And we were talking earlier, before we turn these mics on that Jesus doesn't just want to inspire us or even the people that we read about in Scripture. They're not part of the.

:: 05:10:16

Diana Mescher

Right.

:: 05:11:02

Patrick McCalla

Parts of the Bible. They never meant it to stop at inspiration. Right?

:: 05:15:00

Diana Mescher

Well, get this, Jesus didn't even start with inspiration, which I find wild. Like the first followers he called. He simply said, Follow me like he met them on the beach in their job. And he he met Matthew at his tax collector booth, and he said, Follow me. You see, Jesus offered this invitation. And then as they were doing life with them, of course, they were inspired by the miracles he was doing, the teaching he was doing, the way he was leading.

:: 05:38:15

Diana Mescher

But he invited us to follow him first. And then if you fast forward to the end of the story, he's washing the disciples feet. You remember that story? And yeah, Judas, the one who would betray him, is there. And, you know, you've we've talked about this. You've heard sermons your whole life on this that Jesus even washed the feet of the one he knew would betray him and stab him in the back.

:: 05:59:19

Diana Mescher

And Jesus says at the end of this, he goes, I've set an example for you how I have loved you. Now go and love one another. And that's inspiring. Like, how do we be selfless? How do we not use our leadership as a platform for selfish gain, but for service of others? And how do we love those who potentially are difficult and aren't for us on our team?

:: 06:19:20

Diana Mescher

Yeah. And Jesus says, follow me and do likewise. Just it's Jesus always invites us into a life with him. He doesn't just want to inspire us.

:: 06:31:00

Patrick McCalla

Yeah. Why do you think we tend as humans to stop with inspiration? Because I think especially the listeners are probably people who listen to podcasts. You and I both listen podcasts. We look, we go to church, we hear messages all the time. We were both speakers, teachers, we preachers teach messages. Why is it that we tend to stop with inspiration?

:: 06:51:10

Patrick McCalla

Not taking that extra step?

:: 06:52:23

Diana Mescher

Well, I know for me, I stop at inspiration because, man, that feels good. That's encouraging, that's inspiring. I love thinking about this and pondering this, but it's hard work. It's hard work for me in my life to say, Oh, I'm not just inspired by his example, because when I find myself at my team table or wherever it is, that is a situation like Jesus and Judas, for example, we were talking about, it's not exciting to serve love with humility.

:: 07:22:15

Diana Mescher

Someone who's difficult and challenging to you that doesn't feel glamorous. That's not a movie moment. That's not as exciting and heartwarming as reading about someone else's journey to success. OK, so I like NBA basketball, Pat. Yes. I don't know if you do, but one of my favorites my grandma and I are favorites. We love the Golden State Warriors.

:: 07:43:14

Diana Mescher

And Steph Curry and his mom recently wrote a book and talking about his early years growing up and how he had to change his shot. It's a really public story, but what his mom was saying is he had to be in his backyard. And for days he he kept missing and he couldn't. And she said you know, you don't have to do this.

:: 08:02:06

Diana Mescher

You can choose right now. You can be done with basketball or we can create a plan on how you can build this habit and build this new skill. And he had the moment of decision. You can read it in her book. And then eventually he does. He says, all right, I'm in. And he spends hours after hour, day after day, like hundreds of repetitions.

:: 08:22:01

Diana Mescher

That's not what I enjoy watching today. I enjoy the fast forward 20 years and see him shoot threes from everywhere. And I think we can be inspired by his story, but the work is what's the invitation? Are we willing to work when no one else will see it? Are we willing to wrestle with new disciplines, new habits? Are we willing to tell the truth to God, even in the midst of our fear, in the midst of our struggle, or in the midst of I want to quit and look for God for help and resiliency.

:: 08:50:14

Diana Mescher

So sometimes for me, I stop at inspiration because it's easy and it feels good and it's inspiring. But I think the beauty is if you and I say what's been inspiring me lately and what's the theme in all of that? And might there just be an invitation in there that God is trying to get a hold of our attention to say, I've got something for you, lean in.

:: 09:11:15

Diana Mescher

It's not going to be fast. It's not going to be overnight. But let me invite you into the next step in your journey. You know.

:: 09:18:21

Patrick McCalla

You know, I love what you just said there where you're like like take note of what's been inspiring you because you're not saying inspirations, bad notes. What I heard you just say there's that take note of that. There's probably a reason you've been inspired. Yeah, but but you've got to take that next step, which is usually, as you just said, hard work, right?

:: 09:35:07

Patrick McCalla

So the story you just told us, Steph Curry, it was him. He was inspired by some other basketball players, you know, people that he knew, family members. But if it stopped there, we don't know the story of Steph Curry today.

:: 09:47:06

Diana Mescher

That's right.

:: 09:47:16

Patrick McCalla

Right. Because he had to step into that hard work. Yeah. And you were telling me earlier that was his grandma, right? Was his grandma that taught him like take a show. His mom, his mom, his mom. Shoot, step back. Yeah. You know, if you make it shoot, step back. And to this day, there's videos all over out there.

:: 10:05:17

Patrick McCalla

If you watch him warming up on the court is what he's doing.

:: 10:08:02

Diana Mescher

That's right. Yeah, that's right.

:: 10:09:14

Patrick McCalla

And he's backing up to half court still.

:: 10:11:03

Diana Mescher

Making and even that is really cool of his mom's example of noticing what's kind of inspired and grabbed the attention of her son and to say, how do I come alongside this and not let this just be a dream that he's been inspired by, but support him as he builds the habit and builds the muscle to do that.

:: 10:27:16

Diana Mescher

So it's kind of two fold of how do we pay attention to what we've been inspired by and the people in our life we care for or we're stewarding, what are they inspire by and how can we come alongside that maybe with some structure or notice the invitation they're experiencing?

:: 10:43:05

Patrick McCalla

Oh, man, that's such great advice for parents with children. For friends. You know, if you see your friend, they're inspired by something. How do we come alongside, walk alongside of them and help them take that next step? Right. And we we see that all over the Bible, don't we? Where there's something about story, there's something about our testimony.

:: 10:59:06

Patrick McCalla

There's something about. Yeah, right. So you shared some of those with me when we were talking about. Yeah. Having this is our conversation. What were some of those that you mentioned?

:: 11:07:00

Diana Mescher

through. I think it's someone: 07109

:: 11:28:00

Diana Mescher

But you've lived a life of faith. If you're a person of faith. And have you told your story? Have you told one of the moments in your story of faith? And as you do, there's something about inspiration when we watch others win, when we watch others overcome really difficult odds, when we watch endurance played out. I mean, you and I know it's because the Bible tells us that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope.

:: 11:52:09

Diana Mescher

And hope does not disappoint. And you and I are inspired by other people's stories of hope and breakthrough. But many of us have that story, too, in little moments and in large moments. And so inspiration is not bad. God can use that as we share our story of inspiration. But I look at my my Grandma Smith, she's somebody who's inspired my faith more than anybody else.

:: 12:14:22

Diana Mescher

I don't know if you.

:: 12:15:11

Patrick McCalla

I've known I've known you for a couple of years now. Yeah. And I've heard you talk about her often. Talk about her often. I love. So I'm assuming that you have that yeah.

:: 12:23:20

Diana Mescher

Yeah. My grandma Smith, she survived polio as a child, which is a pretty big deal. She had she navigated a lot in her early years of marriage. And she had a son who had multiple surgeries. It was ten to 20 years of surgeries before in his first year of life. And that was back at a time when the bedside manner isn't quite what it was today.

:: 12:45:12

Diana Mescher

So every time she was told, Hey, tell your son goodbye, you likely will never see him again. Can you imagine.

:: 12:51:01

Patrick McCalla

The first year of his life?

:: 12:51:23

Diana Mescher

Yeah, multiple times over and over. But my grandma is a woman of deep faith and she doesn't judge others. She loves them deeply. And what I was inspired by is Grandma loves the passage in Isaiah that talks about how when we those who hope in the Lord Warsaw on wings like Eagles and Grandma just chose to always say, I'm going to look to the Lord because He is good even in the midst of my circumstances, and I will pray to him and I will trust that I can soar on wings of peace or endurance or of hope.

:: 13:23:19

Diana Mescher

And I know my grandma walks with the Lord in a relationship, not just because she thinks she ought to. Yeah. And so as I watch my grandma live out her faith, the invitation for me is what if I don't need to just be inspired by Grandma's faith? What if that very same relational, deep, good faith is available to me too?

:: 13:43:15

Diana Mescher

Because if I'm inspired by her, I say, Man, Grandma, you've got something I can never achieve or attain. But that's not truth. The truth is that there is a relationship available to you and to me. There's an invitation. There some exists.

:: 13:56:06

Patrick McCalla

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Because, I mean, first of all, first of all, what an amazing gift your grandma is, right? What an amazing gift. And I know you know that because you mention it often, but you but if you just stopped it inspiring, you would go, wow, she's amazing. But what you're saying is taking the next step and figuring out, OK, what is it that's inspiration about my grandma and how do I do that?

:: 14:21:15

Patrick McCalla

How do I live that out?

:: 14:22:14

Diana Mescher

And I asked her that once in college. I say, Grandma, how is your faith so different than everybody else is? You have something that I like I longed for and I want I just don't know how to cultivate that. Yeah. And so Gram and I would talk. She goes, Diana, I have learned to talk to God in prayer prayers talking with God.

:: 14:41:10

Diana Mescher

And she goes, It's not about a formula. It's not about me saying the right thing or not saying the wrong thing. She said, I just learned that the Bible tells me to pour out my heart before the Lord. And She says, So I speak honestly of God. I'm afraid of my son as he heads back into surgery. God, I don't like this.

:: 15:00:18

Diana Mescher

God, I can't do this on my own. And so she learned to tell the truth to God in prayer. And She said, eventually, over time, I also learned to say things like God, thank you for this beautiful sunrise. It is it is beautiful. And there's peace this morning. And she recognized those moments. And that was one way. She said, God, wants to be Jesus wants to be in conversation with you.

:: 15:22:16

Diana Mescher

Would you give it a try? And so then I would awkwardly in kind of Woodley and it was really elementary try that. And I'm like, oh, Graham, this is awkward. Am I talking to the ceiling? She's like, No, let me remind you, God is in heaven. And He hears and she tell me Bible stories of how God listened to his people.

:: 15:39:22

Diana Mescher

So my point is, I had the gift of someone who inspired me up close that I ask those questions too. Yeah. And she showed me the invitation and of how I can try and take steps. And today I can say the gift of having a prayer life and a relationship with Jesus is it's grown. But I had someone who inspired me who said, Let me show you how to get started.

:: 16:02:10

Patrick McCalla

But I don't. I missed the fact that. So if I asked you a rather personal question, like, do you pray like that now?

:: 16:07:16

Diana Mescher

I do I do pray like that.

:: 16:09:07

Patrick McCalla

So you, you you did exactly what we're talking about, where you were inspired by her. You asked her a great question, which, by the way, it could be a whole nother podcast you do is both the power of questions. Yeah. Think about where that one question led you to in your life. But anyway, but you you were invited in to do that, and you did you chose to do that.

:: 16:28:03

Patrick McCalla

Yeah, but it was hard work, maybe difficult. It in the beginning. Awkward in the beginning.

:: 16:32:08

Diana Mescher

Yeah. And it's not it's not instant in my prayer. Life does look different than my grandma's. And I know I know if you're not a person of faith or if you're new, you're like, this sounds so mystical. It's not what I'm saying. It's not an everyday thing. It's a I learned. Oh, one of the real parts of my grandma's faith that inspired me in her hard moments is that she had that simple practice.

:: 16:53:06

Diana Mescher

That sounds so obvious, right? It sounds like a typical church answer of, oh, pray talk with God, no. But for real. Like, that's really one of those simple, underrated habits that truly cultivates a real relationship in your faith. Does that make.

:: 17:08:10

Patrick McCalla

Sense? Oh, it does. And Diane, I think this is such a perfect conversation because again, I think the danger for us, and especially anybody who's listening are like you and I, and we listen to things, we inspire it. Like I said earlier, we often are inspired. We go to movies, always tired. But there's such a danger for us if that's where it stops.

:: 17:27:15

Patrick McCalla

Yeah. And we miss out on so much growth.

:: 17:29:23

Diana Mescher

That's right. Right. Because something's grabbing your heart. Something's grabbing your attention. Something's grabbing your imagination. And you and I aren't inspired by the same thing. Like, yeah, it's a little bit different. And so I think maybe just today the practical piece is what has been inspiring you lately. Is it stories of resiliency, of entrepreneurial ism, of endurance, of people who have made it through deep seasons of grief?

:: 17:53:14

Diana Mescher

What is it that you're drawn to? And might God just be trying to get your attention and say, I've got an invitation in here for you? Hope is possible. You, too, can experience breakthrough and resiliency and as a person of faith, I would say God absolutely wants to meet you and encounter you and empower you and lead you to those places of breakthrough because he's good and he's a good shepherd.

:: 18:17:02

Diana Mescher

And so I just wonder, would we pay attention? And instead of just being inspired whether we think I don't need it or it's not possible for me, I can never navigate this mental health challenge, or I could never navigate the seasons of infertility, or I could never navigate these these entrepreneurial, courageous steps of breakthrough I just would say I don't think that's true because the folks who have experienced that are really often no different than you and I.

:: 18:44:12

Diana Mescher

They're ordinary people. Who've found some invitations and they've leaned in with God's help.

:: 18:50:14

Patrick McCalla

Say what you just said again. You know what's good for ordinary people?

:: 18:54:01

Diana Mescher

Yeah. Who found the invitation and they've leaned in to the next step with God's help. Yeah. And maybe that's just what's on our heart today, is it's possible. And if we become students of our inspiration, if we say, God, what's the invitation? And even, like, the silly movies you've been watching, if you've been watching, like, chick flicks, or if you've been watching action movies, or if you've been checking out the Marvel movies, why is that captured your imagination inspired by.

:: 19:20:19

Diana Mescher

Yeah, yeah. Mean, what's the invitation in it? And might we lean in? Yeah.

:: 19:25:05

Patrick McCalla

OK, so you were talking about, you know, practical ways that we can apply this. So let's just say I'm someone that I'm inspired by stories of resiliency. I love to watch movies about. I love to read books about it. But how do I move from just being inspired to to tangibly practically put that in action?

:: 19:41:14

Diana Mescher

Yeah, that's a really great question. And first off, it's a huge win that you've recognized the theme of stories that you're inspired by. Like, that's step one, right? And then I wonder if maybe there's no right way to do this, but what if you try to pause consuming any more stories of inspiration just for a day or an afternoon or maybe even a weekend and then figure out how you're wired?

:: 20:04:04

Diana Mescher

Are you somebody who likes to go for a run, go for a run, or go for a walk? Walking counts or by all means, sit at a coffee shop at a table without any more stories of inspiration. And think about this question What is it about this story of resiliency? Is there one part of that story? Is it them enduring?

:: 20:24:03

Diana Mescher

And then finally experiencing breakthrough, is it not about breakthrough? And just ask yourself, is there an area in your life or in the life of someone you care about that you really want to see that same kind of resiliency? Because often, sometimes the things we crave for is maybe there's resiliency in your personal story or in your relationships.

:: 20:44:18

Diana Mescher

Or in this dream that God's put on your heart and you've seemed to have hit a brick wall, or you've put it on the shelf for a long time, but it keeps bubbling up. I wonder if God might be using those stories of inspiration you're drawn to to grab your attention, to say, I have something for your story, too, because Jesus, what he does is he invites us to follow him.

:: 21:07:15

Diana Mescher

And then Paul, right? He's one of the people call him a superhero in the New Testament, and he followed Jesus and did these incredibly awesome things. But even Paul says, Wait a second, don't put me on a pedestal. Don't idolize me. I want to tell you the same Jesus I'm following. You can follow him, too. And Paul says this in Corinthians.

:: 21:26:16

Diana Mescher

He says, Follow me as I follow Jesus. Because Paul's ultimate aim was, I want you to follow Jesus. For yourself. And I would say the stories of inspiration that have kind of grabbed your attention, the themes of those, might they just be something that your heart is drawn towards? Maybe you can write a book about that, write a podcast about it, maybe you are going to start a nonprofit, maybe you're just going to serve with a nonprofit that already exists.

:: 21:54:00

Diana Mescher

In your community or in the world. That has to do with the very thing that has drawn your heart. My boyfriend, she loves justice and she loves paying attention to trials and what's happening in normal culture. And then she said to me, she goes, Diana, I've become a this is a couple of years ago. She goes, I realize I've just become a consumer of these stories of justice advocates, but yet I'm not actually advocating for anything in my real life.

:: 22:19:07

Diana Mescher

And so she she did something. She found a nonprofit and started serving with them and realized, nope, this isn't it. And after a while, she fulfilled their commitment. And she went on and thought, maybe I'll pursue school in a certain way to be a part of this but she got active in her own life. To say some things inspired me, and it's good and it's holy.

:: 22:39:10

Diana Mescher

And I want to move towards it in my unique way. And as she started trying to move towards areas that inspired her, God led her path and she thought, God. And now today she's actually serving as an advocate in various ways in these justice stories.

:: 22:54:14

Patrick McCalla

So and that started with her kind of recognizing, doing what you're saying, stepping back and going, what is it that inspires me about this? But then recognizing she was just consuming it and wasn't doing anything with it. Yeah. So then she took that invitation aside and like.

:: 23:10:01

Diana Mescher

Let's take this out of the major leagues of awesomeness of like we don't have to be super excellent to move towards this. I watch this documentary again about like these.

:: 23:20:16

Patrick McCalla

Out again around.

:: 23:22:05

Diana Mescher

It was about honeybees. It was fascinating. And as I watched this, I'm like, man, I catch this. And I was watching a couple other documentaries about cities who have said, how can we do small things that help bring like green back to our cities of like putting a rooftop garden that helps whatever all the things and for me, that grabbed my attention.

:: 23:42:13

Diana Mescher

And then again, I did the same thing of what's the invitation in this inspiration? Well, two things I learned is I can buy local honey from my local farmer's market. Now, does that change the world? It absolutely does not change the world. However, it matters. It was me taking something I was inspired by and saying, What's one small, practical action I can take to help steward this invitation that I got from my inspiration?

:: 24:08:15

Diana Mescher

So now I buy a local honey and once a year again, not changing the world like I need that fast, Pat. But it was a way to say I'm inspired by this. How could I not just be a learner and a consumer? But what's one invitation I can find in this inspiration and can I put it into action?

:: 24:27:07

Diana Mescher

Yeah, and can I take a risk and try?

:: 24:29:03

Patrick McCalla

You know, it makes me think of another danger, I think. Yeah, in, in if we just stop at inspiration, you know, we've both heard this, that that's a lie. That if you can't do everything you can't do anything. But the truth is, you can't do everything, but you can do something. And that's your be illustration. Is it like you watched this documentary, it inspired you about making a difference problem is, is if you if you just stuck with inspiration and you're like, man, I want to change the world you get overwhelmed sometimes.

:: 24:58:19

Patrick McCalla

Yeah. But you took a practical step and said, I can do something.

:: 25:02:21

Diana Mescher

Yeah. But think about too. Like, I don't mean to keep pulling this back to faith, but that's what Jesus did, is he took this ordinary group of people, the 12 disciples and the others who were with him and followed them along, and they just did the next right thing and after Jesus, you know, he died on the cross and he rose again and and he launched them out in this mission he'd been preparing them for.

:: 25:24:09

Diana Mescher

They just did ordinary things they still told people about the story of God. They still love their neighbor as themselves. They still said, I'm not going to misuse platforms of power and influence for selfish gain. Or when I do, I'm going to confess or repent church words for just telling the truth to God and saying, Could you forgive me and help me follow you?

:: 25:44:12

Diana Mescher

And they just put those simple routines in practice. And it wasn't just being inspired by Jesus or being inspired by Paul. It was saying, How do I live my real faith in my real community, in my real corner of the world? Even if if a autobiography is never written about me, how do I live into my life today?

:: 26:05:17

Diana Mescher

And I just I'm not good at this and I fail at it often, Pat. But I found that really that pull of what we're inspired to, there are opportunities in our real everyday life, in our hidden corners of the world to lean into the invitation, to learn to be practitioners of of grace or of goodness or of resiliency or of entrepreneurialship.

:: 26:28:11

Diana Mescher

And again, if it's in line with God's heart, let's lean into it and he'll help us along the way.

:: 26:34:03

Patrick McCalla

Well, Dana, you've inspired me today, but I'm not going to stop there because you've inspired me. I love what you just said. New, ordinary things. That's that's the way you've inspired me today is to remind me and I hope our listeners that we can do ordinary things, whatever, whatever stories are inspiring you, whatever movie you're watching, it's inspiring.

:: 26:54:23

Patrick McCalla

That's what you're saying. Pause. Ask yourself why that's inspiring to you, and then come up with that. Just it will seem ordinary, but it will make a difference. Yeah.

:: 27:03:16

Diana Mescher

And and it may seem slow, but wait for it, right? It's kind of this question of could we be a builder towards what inspires us rather than just someone who critiques or someone who complains so what if we could say, I am inspired by something? What's the invitation in it? And if you're not currently inspired right now, that's real.

:: 27:23:06

Diana Mescher

And sometimes our hearts get overwhelmed by I can't change the whole world or life is just too difficult that that is real. But maybe you if you're in that particular spot, you can say, why did you listen to this podcast today? What are you pulled towards? There's something you're hungry for or what have I been inspired by in the past?

:: 27:42:09

Diana Mescher

What are some of my favorite movies or some of my favorite books or some of my favorite people in history? And there's something about their story that's drawing you. And we don't need to be anybody else in our story. God put us on this like we're alive at this time for a reason. In this particular generation, in this particular part of the world, wherever that may be.

:: 28:04:23

Diana Mescher

And might we look to God and say, God, could you inspire me again with something that would honor your heart? And God, could you help me notice the invitation of what I can do today? What can I build on today? And God will help us. He's the perfect steward. As one of my mentors told me once of everything of inspiration, of opportunity, of our life, might we pay attention to what's inspiring us and find an invitation?

:: 28:31:05

Diana Mescher

Because what we'll find is the invitation often leads us to the very step we crave and in faith. I know I'm talking a while, but in faith, what I found in faith, what I've found is the invitation isn't to a perfect life or to stop doing bad things or to start doing good things. The invitation of faith is an invitation to a relationship with Jesus Christ, our Savior within our Lord.

:: 28:56:03

Diana Mescher

And it will be messy, but so worth it. And it will change your life like it's changed ours imperfectly. We've still got a lot to learn yes. That's what I would say.

:: 29:05:00

Patrick McCalla

Diana, you've just you've left us with so many nuggets of truth. So thank you so much. I mean, I just heard you, too. You just said, you know, be a builder. Instead of, you know, critique criticizing everything. And that's another such an important thing to too.

:: 29:18:02

Diana Mescher

And it's hard.

:: 29:18:19

Patrick McCalla

Yeah. But when you think about inspiring stories, you know, I've heard the quote, no one built a statue to a critic. We're not inspired by stories of critics, but the danger is we can become critics and so again, where you're just talking about taking this practical step of stepping inside and doing something, just a normal, everyday thing. So love it.

:: 29:39:10

Patrick McCalla

Thank you so much for being with us today, Diane. Thanks for.

:: 29:41:22

Diana Mescher

Having me.

:: 29:42:07

Patrick McCalla

Man. If we would take this to heart, I mean, I think about all of our audience. If we if we did this in the next couple of days, practically did what you're telling us to do, man, it could be amazing what could happen in coming weeks and months.

:: 29:55:22

Diana Mescher

And I'll be joining in to to pay attention of what's inspired me lately. What are the invitation eyes? The ones I've missed and the ones that I have opportunity for to say, OK, God help me lean in today.

:: 30:08:02

Patrick McCalla

Yeah. Yeah. That's one things I've always loved about you, Diane, is you, dude. Whatever you're talking about, whatever we're talking about, whatever the conversation is about, you are always trying to figure out how do I apply it to myself? So I appreciate that about you. Well, you know, one of the fun things that we do on this podcast is to truths and a lie, which is ironic because we talk about no gray areas and choices and integrity yeah.

:: 30:31:01

Patrick McCalla

And so I'm going to ask you to lie to me. So the audience has heard you for about 30 minutes. I've known you for a couple of years. Let's see if you can stump us two truths in a lie. Go ahead.

:: 30:39:20

Diana Mescher

I'm so bad at this, but I'll try, OK?

:: 30:41:23

Patrick McCalla

It's good. It's not good at lying.

:: 30:43:16

Diana Mescher

Well, all right, so here we go. I have one. Walked through Anne Frank's house too. I have hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim three. I have walked through the mist of Victoria Falls and boated down the Zambezi River.

:: 31:00:01

Patrick McCalla

Who can. Now, I get to cheat a little bit because I know you did the third one. I'm almost sure that because you were in that you've been in Africa numerous times. So the third one is the truth. Yes. OK, good. Now I've got you hiked Rim Durham, Grand Canyon, or Anne Frank's house. Wow. That's. I'm going to say that you you were in and Frank's house.

:: 31:22:20

Diana Mescher

I was. You got it right. I do. On a hike. The Grand Canyon rim to rim but haven't yet.

:: 31:27:20

Patrick McCalla

Yeah. All right. Could you did not stump me. See? Good. Well, thank you again for sharing your wisdom. And I certainly hope our audience takes the advice that advice that you gave us appreciate you so much, Dan. Yeah.

:: 31:40:13

Diana Mescher

Thanks for having me. Let's be learners together.

:: 31:42:18

Host

Thanks for listening to the No Gray Areas podcast to dove deeper into the story. Be sure to subscribe follow us on social media and check out No Gray Areas dot com.