Do you ever get a feeling or urge to do something for or to a complete stranger? Maybe you're at the gym running and you see someone on a stairmaster across the room who you recognize; but, for some reason, you feel something inside you asking you to go over to her/him and say hi or maybe ask her/him to hang out sometime. Or perhaps, you're playing disc golf with your brother and you see someone in front of you who's gonna play by himself/herself; however, you feel a desire to maybe get to know this person a little. I've been realizing/remembering that urges like these are actually quite common in my life, and, I'd guess, yours too.
In these moments, I think that we are seeing, either by choice or default, others as people rather than objects. Their humanness calls out to us. Not responding to the humanness in others when it calls to us can cause us to stop seeing people as people and to start seeing them as objects. That being said, I'm not suggesting that we have to or even should respond to every little urge that we have towards others' humanness, rather I'm wondering if maybe we would drastically benefit from responding every now and then.
Meredith and I are basically settled in here in Charlotte. We are pretty confident we've found a church, we've got all of our bills and mail coming to our house!, and we're getting in to a bit of a routine with wedding season having started. It's time to make some friends! But, making friends is tough (Kels feels me) in this context of life. In high school, making friends is hard to avoid; in college, you're surrounded by a lot of people feeling, wanting, and going through a lot of the same things as you, so making friends is only natural; then, however, you get to this different season of life-that's where we're at. I'm definitely not making excuses. I'm actually just realizing how hard it is to make friends when you're in a new place.
I'm striving to seize more opportunities and listen to my heart's urges more in life. I think this will bring me experiences, stories, and friends that I otherwise wouldn't have. I'm not certain this will be the outcome, but I'm going to dare all the more to listen to the urges that call me to serve, love, reach out to, or get to know other people. This is kind of a new thing for me, or, at least, it's something I haven't done for a long time. So...instead of my classic line being, "I was going to __________, but...", I'm going to start saying, "I wasn't going to_______, but I did. And, because I did_________." I'm excited!! You?
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