Detectives of the Divine

 

Yesterday, I invited you to listen to the words that fall from your lips, the stories you tell and share.  We shape our stories which in turn shape us.  Today, I want to invite you to pay attention to how you are being shaped by others.  We are not isolated individuals who live in a vacuum.  Our interactions, encounters, and experiences with fellow featherless bi-peds do impact us ~ both in good and in not so great/grand ways.  Rather than trying to do this with everyone you meet or greet today, which even for my extroverted friends would be a lot.  Choose three interactions that happen today.  This could be a phone call you have with a friend or with the store clerk or a meeting you have on the calendar.  As you are present in the moment with the beloved of God in front of you, be aware of what is happening within you.  Or, you can even be proactive and examine what assumptions you bring with you before you even enter the room or pick up the phone.  Much of what passes for interaction today falls into a broken script that keeps getting replayed and rehearsed.  If I think, “There is that person who always annoys me.”  I will probably be annoyed even if it is only by the person breathing.  Or if I say, “Here is someone I love.”  Chances are good that I will look for ways that person is a blessing, even if that person is mean or angry or is having a no good rotten day and takes it out on me.  Part of what makes the detective work of the Divine in our lives so hard is that the threads are twisted and tangled like a strand of Christmas lights, so we don’t see as clearly as we think we do.  Trying to unravel what is happening in us and what is happening between us takes a lot of energy, effort, and thought.  Honestly, sometimes we just don’t want to do it.  We’d rather go through life on autopilot where the systems are perfectly designed to give us what we expect.  Today, note one way you were surprised by another person.  Maybe you went into a meeting with that person, and she said something nice.  Or maybe it was the phone call where you thought the person was going to tell you again that story you’ve heard a thousand times, only there was one new subtle nuance you might have missed previously.   I pray God surprises you in beautiful ways today.  Amen.