Day 102 - Conversations

Well I got to church early yesterday in order to help with the Community Connections crew last night. As usual I was early and while I was waiting for my fellow workers, I met two ladies in the lobby of the church.

We exchanged pleasantries and discussed the weather at first, but it didn't take long for the subject matter to change. It is curious to me how easily a group of believers can just jump into a discussion with each other about the world and our place in it. God, just in case you missed it and his return was the general topic along with side notes on the worldly chaos of the day. The conversation was very in depth and full of insight from all three parties including myself.

Like me, both of the ladies had stories of God's goodness to them. It occurred to me later that this is why we gather and the exact purpose of the Church. We are called to share one with another ,God's goodness, our stories and our lives. This sharing was done in an atmosphere of respect, openness and without judgement and did not feel strange or out of place. But if you  tried to have the same discussion with a non-believer I am sure the discussion would not be as smooth as it was, but choppy and abrupt full of justifications.

My thought is simply this, what if that same atmosphere could be brought to every conversation we had? I mean I even had the comfort to show one of them some of my most recent writing regarding a biblical topic and was open to their critiquing. I just met this person, they read my writing and commented on how it could be better and asked me questions which challenged some of the topics. I never got upset and was not offended in anyway. I took the input with grace. I guess that was the key to our conversation, that grace was extended by each of us to one another.

Now because we were all believers in Christ and have within us his Holy Spirit I guess that it is easier to extend them grace then a non-Christian. However that being said as a Christian I believe that we are called to extended grace always to all people, it was just easier to do in this case because of our shared belief. I am grateful to have met these ladies and believe that it was a good lesson for me to discover and one I hope I can put to practice from here on.