Yesterday I went to see one of my old students score her 1,000th career point in basketball, the first player in Faith Christian School history to do so. When I arrived, the middle school boys were playing. Apparently they were running behind schedule. Faith was up by about nine points most of the way through the game -- until the fourth quarter. That's when the visiting team kept scoring and the home team just quit. The game ended up going to overtime.
In overtime, that gymnasium came to life, with both team's crowds screaming their heads off and the fortunes of both teams going up and down many times in the three minutes allowed for the extra period. As the crowd around me went crazy, I allowed myself to become captive to the moment. Before long I really cared who won the game. Moments ago, I didn't care, and this game was merely an obstacle prolonging how long it was going to take me to see the game I came to watch! But now, it mattered to me.
Perhaps part of the reason it is so important to spend time with people other than friends and family is so that we'll learn to genuinely care about them. It is hard to muster much genuine concern for others when they remain but a vapor to us. But when we are with them in the midst of their struggle, we empathize with them in the moment and suddently they and their circumstances matter to us.
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2 comments:
I wonder how many of us care as much or more about our favorite tv characters than we do about our neighbors. We (or at least I) invest the time with our tv friends.
In our current situation, I have found it hard to want to be around people other than family when they come to visit, or the close friends who are miles away. It was only recently that I realized if I didn't spend that time, I would never allow those people to affect me, nor could I affect them. I am trying to be more intentional...slowly but surely God is changing my attitude.
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