This week, I’m continuing my thoughts on being ‘with.’ As I’ve been writing these articles and preparing to speak yesterday in church, I’ve had a few challenges in being with the people around me. I guess God is really working on me! Another thing about ‘with’ is that it takes the attention off of me. It’s not just me. It’s us. Together. Team. It’s hard to do that in a culture that emphasizes the “see me…” Look what I can do. Look what I have done.
Being with implies togetherness. At least two. Maybe more. Definitely more than me.
In being with someone, there’s no keeping score. If it’s not all about me, then I don’t have to compare what I’m doing to what others are doing. In his book, Everybody Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People, author Bob Goff says it this way: We learn to” talk a lot more about that God’s doing than what [we’re] doing because [we’ve] stopped keeping score…[we] don’t memorize the good or bad we or anyone else has done. [We] memorize grace instead.”
We are called to be counter-cultural. We, the church and all the rest of us, need to be kind. One of the ways of kindness is simply to acknowledge the needs of others and be with them. Be with them in their needs – not because of some kind of scorekeeping – but out of kindness.
Kindness doesn’t come automatically. Our sinful nature sometimes gets the better of our intentions. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and kindness will come out of the overflowing of our hearts.
So whether we travel the roads of Habersham – wherever that takes us – or fly across the ocean to Kenya, the point is to be with the people God has us with. That’s what we did in Kenya and what I continue to try to do here. Just be present – not racing to the next point, destination or responsibility or judging whether or not they deserve it. Absorb their presence, fully aware that every moment of connection can bring joy or comfort to both you and the person you’re with. The moment of connection is fleeting; be there. With. Kindness.
