My World As I See It

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 9^th 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!