How social distancing brings us closer together
Have you noticed the buzz?
I drive through neighborhoods right now and see people out talking to each other.
Recently, we had a neighbor drop in and meet us.
We had never met these people until that moment, but my wife is now planting a garden at their place and I’ve offered to help with work they couldn’t do because of health conditions.
They told us that while they were out walking this week, five different families came out to meet them and just visit.
Suddenly, the spell has been broken.
We are seeing each other again.
I’m in contact with people around the globe and we all share the same concern.
When have we had a better chance of engaging with one another and caring for one another?
I know some people believe their faith in Jesus is all they need, but you cannot be in Jesus without reaching out to another.
At times when I have battled depression, I’ve learned that one of the best treatments is to find what I can do for someone else.
If I only pray for myself, I am limited. If I pray for others, blessings pass through me, so to speak. I get a side benefit by just being part of that pipeline.
What I do for others should be something God has given me a love for. Planting gardens is not my strong point in life, but it is my wife’s.
As parents, we’ve helped our children isolate their joys, the things they enjoy contributing to others. Not everyone is going to run a food bank or homeless shelter.
Your gift, your ministry, is as unique as you. As you do the things the Lord has gifted you with doing, you’ll find yourself come alive in a new way.
Not everyone is a preacher. We shouldn’t think that anyone is any less just because they don’t do things by a certain pattern. Our present changeup is showing us how adaptable we are as well as how versatile we are.
I stopped to fill a small propane tank this week. The office was closed because of Covid-19, but a worker in the parking lot saw what I needed and cheerfully filled my little tank. When I reached out with the cash to pay him, he said, “Keep it. Do something for somebody.”
If you look at the lists of ministry roles in the Bible, you won’t find anything about filling propane tanks. What you can do for others is unique to you, though the principles and values are truly scriptural.
Do you realize you are the gift? God gave you to a certain social group, your family, neighborhood, church family. You have specific strengths and skills that help others.
Sometimes you discover what your purpose is by looking at the work you call fun. Have you ever done a job that you laughed about getting a paycheck because you would have done it for free because you love it so much? Often, that is your calling.
Professor David Norris says something like, “I teach for just for the fun of it; they pay me so I will grade papers.” Perhaps no one could pay you enough to teach a class, but you’d do auto repair for the fun of it or groom dogs as a hobby.
You are a positive factor in your world. It takes a non-ordinary reaction to move a proton out of the nucleus and it takes a lot sometimes to get humans to move out of their comfortable orbit to make a difference in the lives of others.
For me it was writing. Later it was public teaching. I have been trying to get better at doing video lately.
I die a thousand deaths each time I have broken through the inertia to doing some new thing that will be of value to others.
But remember that when you make the effort to be the positive change in someone else’s life, you’ll supercharge your own life similar to all the potential energy released when a proton leaves an atom.
Nuclear reactions, as I understand them, are chain reactions as protons and neutrons leave the nucleus of one atom, they collide with the cores of other atoms, releasing more protons and great energy.
What might you trigger in your world? What are you transferring to others? How is it changing them? How is it changing you?