Recently found myself in situations where I overhear or notice very
private conversations occuring in very public places (son and mother
discussing finacial hardship, a marriage ending, a relationship
disintergrating over competing understandings of spirituality, a
friend sharing their deepening depression). Trying not to be a creeper
or eavesdrop, assure you that these situations have literally fallen
in my lap and, in all cases, had to actively work against listening in
b/c of volume and proximity.

It leaves me wondering how much of our lives we spend not noticing the
lives of those around us b/c they fail to invade our own in some way?

Comments

Jason said…
Interesting twist. Often the conversation that happens is our failure to be open to the world around us. This lack of openness leads to us missing quite a bit. However as I read what you are writing, this is just slightly different. It puts some emphasis not only on you and I but on others whose stories fail to invade our own.

We still need to be open to the opportunity to see that which we miss, but at the same time, perhaps if we want to make a difference in the world we must not fail to invade other's stories with our own.

Perhaps this is where we Christians are missing the boat. We are not intentionally invading people's stories with the Christian Story. Perhaps, this is the call of evangelism? To be invasive???

Good thoughts though. Thanks for the post.
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