thoughts on sunday night.

Do you ever think about how many people you greet throughout the course of a day and how many people with whom you carry on casual conversation? There's probably tens, maybe hundreds. but out of those people, how many do you actually know? I'm not talking about whether or not you know their name, occupation, and town of residence. I mean truly know. I've been noticing that the deeper I get to know a person, the more I want to have a relationship with them. There's something about being open with another human being that provides this sort of bridge to that person. Maybe it's because we all long to go back to The Garden, the place where shame was nonexistant and concealment was not even a thought. I believe that we are meant to be real with one another, and I think that getting to truly know a person- their brokenness, their struggles, the things that they would wake up and hour early to do- is, perhaps, one of the greatest gifts that God has given us in this lifetime.

Hugh Walpole Sr. once said, "The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discorver of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life." For the most part, I can echo his words, but I'd like to correct one thing. I do not believe that those with whom we come in contact with are merely a divine accident; rather, I believe that they have been strategically placed in our lives by the Divine, and we are to seek to make his glory known through each relationship we have. I'd also like to add to the line that says, "It cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it." I agree with that, but I'll say that I've learned that it takes work and the love and grace of Christ to enable our earthly relationships to endure, granted the Lord wants it to continue.

So what am I saying? I don't think it's possible for us to become best friends with every single person we come in contact with; life's other demands does not allow that. I do, however, think that we need to be intentional in getting to know those around us so that we can better live out the gospel with those who may not know Christ, and so that we can deeply encourage those with whom we share the hope of the gospel. I think we can all agree that we fail in the area of relational investment.

In my Bible class, we were discussing the eye and how we often associate a person's eyes with who they are. It is said that when you look into a person's eyes, you can see their soul. I sat there and thought about it for a minute. When you look into someone's eyes, you are seeing the outside of a sense of humor, a personality, a soul, likes and dislikes. Let's look a little deeper, and may we look into the eyes of others with the eyes of Christ.