The Unexpected Adventure- UE 13- "Divine Interruptions" 2 Timothy 4:2, 5
If you heard a "doioioioing" this morning (that was my attempt at recreating the sound of a cartoon arrow hitting the bulls eye) it came from our house during my morning quiet time. Today's reading hit me right in the spiritual bulls eye.
Mark Mittelberg tells a story of how he and his wife were trying to have a quiet meal alone at a restaurant when a waiter seated another couple right next to them in an almost empty restaurant. (Don't you hate it when that happens?!) Near the end of the lunch, the other couple engaged Mark and his wife, Heidi, in a conversation that moved to a discussion of personal belief systems. The woman pointed out she's an avowed atheist and that all belief systems were correct for that person. There is not a lunchtime conversion, but, on the advice of Heidi, Mark does give the lady a copy of his latest book, Choosing Your Faith.
The point of the reading is that we need to be willing to allow our plans to be redirected to Kingdom work when God presents those opportunities.
That is a weakness of mine. Too often I feel that my plans, my goals, my to-do list trumps the needs of those around me. I don't take the time to really listen to Kristi's day. My hallway conversations with teachers are punctuated with glances at my watch. After church chit-chat is an interruption to my lunch plans. Many times I place cheeseburgers over Christians, emails over empathy and t.v. over tenderness.
Mittelberg mentions various times in scripture when Jesus' day or night was interrupted by the needs of others. These references are in John 3, 9 and 11.
Please pray that I will prioritize the needs of others before the me-list I have made for myself today. And also realize I need to keep that balance of getting to the things that have to be done. Fine line between the two.
You may have just heard another "doioioioioing" about 3:20 pm. No only do I not want my plans interrupted, I don't even want my non-plans interrupted. I don't enjoy making small talk with people, even people I know....even people at church.
ReplyDeleteI have come to believe that, aside from spiritual issues, people talk because (1) they have a NEED to talk, (2) they feel thay have something OTHERS NEED to hear ("your fly is open") or (3) they have something others WANT to hear ("you sure do have pretty grandkids")
If I don't fit any of those catagories at any given moment, I tend to prefer silence. I think that attitude is taken is any one of several ways, all of them negative.
My point is that I don't easily or often enter into the casual conversations that can be guided into spiritual issues. I resent "nosy" people asking me info about myself to get the conversation ball rolling and so I tend not to ask them similar questions.
BUT your insight that you (I) should be doing such is very good....and for me, uncomfortable.