Meet

I don’t know about you, but I am definitely a “people person.”  Don’t get me wrong, there are many times that I prefer just to sit quietly with no noise, especially if it’s sitting quietly in prayer during my day or on the beach watching the waves crash to shore over and over again.  Some of my best memories are during the weekend-long silent retreats that I’ve attended over the years.  On the other hand, I still enjoy meeting new people and making new friends.  Think of your closest friend(s) right now.  How did you meet them and how did that grow into the friendship you have now?  What lessons have they taught you?  I remember going on vacation with my husband many years ago to a small resort island off the coast of Florida.  I looked forward to the quiet with just the two of us.  Obviously, there were other couples there enjoying the same tranquility.  But what struck me is that no one seemed interested in a small conversation, except for the occasional nod or hello.  By the end of about three days, I was craving to strike up a conversation or two and meet some of these vacationers.    I was disappointed and couldn’t understand why this small paradise didn’t hold more opportunities to interact with each other.  Contemplating on this, I recall suddenly the many times we read that Jesus went off by himself to be in silence, to pray which conflicts with His purpose of meeting the people where they were in life and spread the word about His Father.  There is definitely a need for the balance of silence and doing His Father’s will of spreading the Word.  So, I guess the moral of this story is, just like Jesus, we need quiet time to pray and center ourselves; but we also need to meet new people along our journey.  They help us grow in so many ways, whether people come into our lives for only a moment or for a lifetime.  We learn lessons from them about how to be better people (maybe even realize our weaknesses) and share the good Word with others.  Meeting people is part of our journey to be better disciples.  Maybe a good question to keep in mind this week is, “How would Jesus help this new person I’ve met?” – or maybe “How can this new person help me grow closer to Jesus?”  Good luck with meeting Jesus, a new or old friend, on your journey.  You never know where He might show up!

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.  While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them…’Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’” Luke 24: 13-14, 32