The
past couple of weeks have been a little crazy. I have performed 3 funerals and
am in the process of planning a wedding that will be conducted on Valentine’s
Day. I have made 6 hospital visits (not
including my own) which is quite a feat as most hospitals are an hour drive
away. I am developing my freshman daughter’s Biology curriculum. I am
developing a curriculum for my Church for the Lenten season. I have been
refing quite a few basketball games. One tournament was for Special Olympics.
My wife needed to be taken to the emergency room and early the next week had
surgery. And to top it all off, the band I’m in is preparing for a major
fundraiser, a dinner and a concert. Of course we are doing everything ourselves…the advertising…the dinner….and the
concert. It’s happening on February 9th and you are all invited! Oh,
and I almost forgot…I became a grandpa.
That
is a little “snapshot” into my world. There’s more, but I’m not going to bore
you with the details of my world. However, that is part of the thought I wanted
to share with you for just a few minutes while we’re together here on the
“porch”. The “world” that each of us operates in shapes our thinking and
ultimately, us. That’s important to remember. Let me explain.
I
remember when my wife was teaching a teen Sunday School class. She got into a
discussion (More like a debate) with a young man in her class. He was talking
about the way things were in High School. The discussion got a little testy
when my wife said, “But in the real world…”
To him, High School was the real world. Isn’t it amazing how we probably
felt that way when we were in school, but now that we have lived outside of
High School, it’s not the real world.
The
same principal applies to a person who is a caregiver to an elderly parent or a
parent to a child with disabilities. That job is so consuming that it is their
world. The same principle applies to someone in the military, or someone
working for a company. The job becomes your world.
In
each one of these scenarios, the person in them may try to read books magazines
or articles to expand their horizons. They may try to catch news, or have a
hobby to break the monotony of the cycle they are in. I’m sure it helps.
Nevertheless, they are still in their world. A world that shapes their thinking
has a language and acceptable unacceptable protocols.
“So,
what’s the point?” Well, it kind of simple really. When we interact with
people, why don’t we meet them on their terms in their world? In general, we
are a little selfish here. Most of us want to meet people in “our world” based
on “our terms”. Let’s face it. It’s work to meet somebody in their world and
have to speak their language and understand their culture. So, they can just
come to my world.
How
many relationships could be improved or even saved if one person in the
relationship would move into the other person’s world. I think that this is
something that God would want us to do. I mean I think it’s His will for us to
do it. How do I know that? Well, Jesus is our great example, and He did it for
us!
