I started out this morning at a strategic planning process for our church. I stayed as long as I could, until running to a bridal shower for a dear friend. I sat next to the mother of the groom and talked about raising kids and watching the first one get ready for marriage. I watched the bride to be blushing and smiling. I remembered my own bridal shower.
One of the conversations from the church retreat churned in my mind... meeting people where they are. Life is a journey and as we travel through it, we find ourselves with different surroundings, different routines, different perspectives on things as basic as eating, sleeping and breathing.
Faith is the same way. The journey pushes us through questions and doubts, struggles, enlightenment, hilltops and valleys. Moments where God becomes clear and comprehensible. Moments when God is obscured, invisible, inexistent. We waiver between believer and atheist. Sinner and saint. Whole and broken. Healed and hurting. Light and darkness.
At our church retreat we talked about meeting people where they are -- in life and in faith.
I think this is hard to do. Our current context is so encompassing that it is hard to set aside our own story to venture into someone else's. It also inevitably changes our own story. Our stories are fluid and every interaction draws down one road or another.
Sitting at that bridal shower I looked back and saw myself a giddy bride to be. I looked forward and saw myself as the mother of the groom. Meeting others where they are reminded me that my current story (both in faith and in life) is only for a season.
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