A year has passed and gone quickly. Mammoth changes came incredibly quick. To be able to sit and see what has happened, how I've changed, how those around me have changed is a gift. There is no other way to look at it.
- A gift given to realize the abilities you've gained, and the growth of those around you.-
I cant help but have a smile on my face to sit and think. And when you get to share the end of one calendar year with those who you have seen and have seen you transition through the end of the collegiate season of life, the reflections and memories are just that sweeter. This is one reflection.
Conversations in a dorm room is where it starts. From the awkward beginnings of your first roommates and living together or brother/sister wingers stopping by and the gradual shift from giggles and jokes to semi serious conversations about relationships and friendships. To talks on how we live out our faith, how to be real in a bubble. To struggles we have with each other and within ourselves.
Just simple conversations. Whether taking place in dorm rooms, IHOP visits, lounges, small groups and as they transfer to off campus houses, visits to the friends homes. They have also shifted from AIM, to Ichat, to facebook, to skype to mass emails. Simple conversations yes, but o how the depths of each person are shaped, molded and grown.
It is just great to think of the conversations and thoughts, realize where youve come from and where you are headed. Especially because in hindsight you see those around you grow as well. So when you continue to mature and are able to have a great post Taylor time on New Year ’s Eve, and mix in quality conversation you just gotta smile. Because the conversations have made us better, wiser, stronger, and different.
So when a guy comes up to a group of people having a good time laughing and conversing on the floor of a train station in Chicago IL. He sees something different. He sees years of conversations combined into a group of people. He sees "A Jesus Circle"
In a world where people aren’t real enough to develop conversations that are beneficial and will build up others as well as themselves. Cynicism rules and the belief of self sustenance and self knowledge of truth affect all areas of life. He feels the need to come over and spout his opinions because he longs for them to be known and challenged. He comes over and calls my LORD ridiculous names to see if his children really care. He challenges the beliefs because he doesn’t understand the process by which they have been forged.
He becomes confused because the "Jesus Circle" stays calm collected and continues to be the same people he saw from across the room. They smile because they have the ability to rely on a few factors. Knowledge of who they are. Knowledge of who HE is, and what He promises. A knowledge that has been shaped by their conversations.
He leaves still cursing the Name. But he has encountered something, probably something he didn’t quite expect, a group of people united in love and friendship. Who have spent time testing and growing each other. Who took time to converse, to care, to love. To flesh out the Word and help figure out the world around them. He met people who love Jesus.
I love the fact that we get to laugh about a random interaction to start the New Year. Reflection brings me to love even more the build up to that point; the conversations, the love and the growth. It all started with taking time to talk. Just letting things happen, and allowing conversations blossom into challenges and growth.
So thanks to you! As we continue to converse, whether by mass email or video chats or homecoming meetings, New Years celebrations and the like thank you for helping me grow.
So if you don’t have a New Years resolution, just think of taking time. Taking time to; debate, talk, challenge, ask questions, and just be with each other.
May we look to continue to grow this Mark of a Christian. By continuing to converse grow and love each other.
My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:33-35)
