Minding My Business

Often when Gimli and Virginia plop down to rest, they lay in ways that seem to make no sense. Their necks and heads craned back as if in a back bend, or draped over our laps with their heads hanging upside down. We look at them and say, "That can't be comfortable!" I will pick them up and try to reposition them in a way that I think will be more pleasant for them. But in the end, they twist, turn, dig, and stretch as they wish and lay in ways they choose. They know what makes them comfortable more than I do.

I can often do the same thing with people I know and love, people I don't like, and even those I don't know at all. How very easy it is for me to project my own opinions, preferences, and convictions on other people. There are times when a friends' well being is at stake, but the majority of the time, their choices may cause an annoyance to me, but no danger to them or anyone else. And truthfully, is there anything more annoying than a person offering unsolicited and undesired advice?

When I think about the impact I want to have on others, that's not what I have in mind. I don't want to be the type of person people avoid sharing their lives with for fear of intrusion and judgement. People will always disagree with me, choose to value things differently than I do, and make decisions I may not agree with. I pray that God would make me a person of safety and comfort for others, one whom people feel free to be themselves and not have to wear a mask. Those are the kinds of relationships we all remember and cherish the most.

 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12: "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."