The Gift of Muchness

For everyone who has the gift of muchness. xo

Now David, wearing a linen ephod, was dancing with all his strength before the LORD. David and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD, shouting and blowing trumpets.

2 Samuel 6:14-15

 

And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.

Genesis 45:2-3

 

As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

Luke 7:38

 

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

John 21:7

 

People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly that the sound was heard a long way off.

Ezra 3:13

 

So he made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple courts, with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will devour me.”

John 2:15-17

The friendly dog ran up and down, up and down the terra cotta trail we all used to get everywhere. Sleepy school kids startled as he leapt toward them, grinning and wagging. Back and forth, around and around he went as the humans on the trail did their best to ignore him and get where they were going. Parents protected their children, and brothers reassured sisters that the pooch wouldn’t hurt them. The dog was just happy and oblivious to the impact his muchness had on the preoccupied people headed to work and school. I felt sorry for him, ignored and yet so jolly. 

When I arrived at my appointment down the hill ten minutes later, there he appeared again. Joy gets around quick!

Mr. Joy had the gift of muchness, but the people around him already had more than they could handle—no room for him.

I wonder how often we climb the narrow path of life, annoyed by the ones running circles with all their muchness. We already have more than we can handle, and here comes Mr. Joy or Mrs. Intense bouncing around with so… much.

King David had the gift of muchness. He danced with all his might, in his underwear, before God and everybody. His wife Michal missed the fact that his muchness was the joy of the Lord, and she despised him for it.

Joseph had the gift of muchness from early days. He exuberantly shared his dream gift with his brothers, who threw him in a pit because he was just too much. Years later, reunited with his family, he wept so loudly that all of Egypt and Pharaoh’s household heard him. Did they realize it was because Joseph had paid a dear price for all that muchness?

When the temple was established again after the long exile, the young and the old could not contain the muchness of grief and joy, all at the same time. The older exiles remembered the former temple in all its glory, and the younger exuded joy for the new. There was no measure to their shouting and weeping, and it was heard a long way off. 

Mary knew the darkness of sin and met the Light of the World. In a bold move (the gift of muchness doesn’t care much for what’s proper), Mary barges into an all-male meeting, weeping loudly, and breaks her marriage vial of perfume to pour on Jesus’ feet. She then commences to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair, all to the horror of the religious and right.

Betrayal and denial shaped Peter’s gift of muchness. When Peter got a second chance to surrender his muchness to Jesus, he leapt out of the boat half-naked and tried to run on water to the Savior (He apparently no longer cared about the risk of sinking). Jesus welcomed him; He actually never was bothered by Peter’s muchness.

Jesus showed everyone with the gift of muchness how little it matters what others think when He stormed into the Establishment and gave everyone a whipping while turning their tables over and destroying their livelihood. The gift of His Father’s house was much more than they could comprehend, and it took the gift of muchness to make the point.

As one friend of a friend says, “I’m a lot, but I bring a lot.”

Do you have the gift of muchness, running circles on the path of life, wet-nosing the serious folks along the way to see if anyone will stop and celebrate the Way, the Truth, and the Life with you?

The gift of muchness is very much what God uses to reach those a long way off, and turn the tables on those nearby. Share on X

Don’t stop bouncing, weeping, giving, going, running, laughing, shouting, dear gift-bearer. The world needs you. Your muchness might be what it takes for those a long way off to hear that there’s more to Life.

Lord, I am a lot, but when I surrender my gift of muchness to You, You are all that matters. Amen.

@audreycfrank

Photo by Milli on Unsplash