Listen

A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”

Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”

He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”

But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Luke 10:25-29

Think

I’m not sure what it says about my four-year-old daughter, or this legal expert for that matter, that the two remind me of one another. Never lacking in questions…I can hear her, ”Mama, where did this toy come from? Was it for me or Nora? Is Nora old enough to play with it? Tell Nora to give the doll to me!!”

When I hear the long string of questions, I begin to tune into the fact that this isn’t actually about the doll. Something else is going on here. She is typically trying, in a roundabout way, to find herself in a desired situation for herself. She is thinking of herself and that doll and not really considering baby sister.

Don’t we all do this? We can get so consumed with the minutiae, piling on more and more questions… and it can eventually distract us from the real matter – the people we are talking about. The rabbit trail of precise details often leads us away from community, not towards it.

Sara Hunt-Felke

Pray

God, help me to stop distracting myself with unnecessary questions and research, data and qualitative studies.

Help me see the people in front of me.

Help me connect.

Amen.

Go

In the midst of this great BIG world, may you be assured that you are seen.

You matter.

In the great big crowd, you are not insignificant but instead you are an integral part of the beautiful mosaic.

You are called to embrace the community around you.

The community is ready for YOU.