He had all the gravitas of a 40 year old doctor (as his father is or was) as he considered my replies with a very direct gaze, and thought about what I had said. He never once smiled as we talked. I actually found myself a little intimidated by him at the same time I was enjoying observing his demeanor.
This conversation went on as I was leaving a house where I was repairing blinds and needing more tools from outside, and one of the 3 1/2 year old twins queried me about what I was doing and which vehicle outside was mine.
When I saw his twin brother I noticed he was more of a little irish redhead with a quick smile and more spontaneous way of being.
Later I found out that his dad had had a stroke within the year and is no longer employed as a doctor and may never be again. So very sad.
There are both pluses and minuses to working on
being aware and involved with people. The beauty and charm of glimpses of maturity in a child and the painful and premature ending of an adult's life as they knew it.
As I have thought about this experience of mine, another conversation made me think of what we know of God. I think what we know of God is what Jesus did with others. He empathized. He listened. He was intuitive. He used annoyingly unclear and open ended parables about how people relate to each other and God.
I have to think that when he was with someone he was searching deep within. What is the joy in there? What is the pain in there? What made this person the person they are today?
Why do I think about this? Well, because I feel like a large part of my life was lived somewhat in a narcissistic fog of internal pain. That got old and I deconstructed my life and fortunately got to put it back together in a much better way. For me what I really have wanted in this reconstruction is to in a sense come up to speed in terms of my ability to be empathetic and intuitive about others and to do so within the ever pervasive presence of God.
I believe the deepest and richest way to live life is in connection with others in that context of God's presence.
They gain and I gain. A relational win/win.
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