People Person

I love people.
They energize me.
I always find it fascinating to listen to their stories.
I could go about my days just talking and listening to people and be wonderfully content.

I learn so much when I listen to another person.
Not the nosy kind of information.
Rather interesting reflections and insights.
Different perspectives to view the world.

Heaven will be glorious simply because I will be with the Lord.
It will also be wonderful to hear the stories of how people came to know Jesus.
I could sit through all eternity and never tire of hearing how a person came to Christ.
It would probably take an eternity to hear every one.

However, it is a different in the here and now since we are tethered to time and space.
We have obligations.
There are things we need to get done.
We operate in frustrating time constraints.

I have noticed that everyone gives the obligatory answer when asked one question.
How are you?
Fine. How are you?
If you don’t let the conversation stop there and you ask again, you get a different answer.

Asking the question again and just taking the time to listen means so much.
You will usually hear something that is heavy on their heart.
You will usually hear something that is weighing on their mind.
You will usually hear something.

We live in a society where the world is literally at our fingertips.
Yet, we also live in a society where people are lonely and disconnected.
With hundreds of Facebook friends and Twitter followers, we are still isolated.
We hunger for meaningful relationships.

We have settled for shallow, fleeting relationships.
Our conversations are nothing more than elevator talk.
Our knowledge is limited to trivia and celebrity gossip.
We are spoon-fed our information and rarely think for ourselves.

That is a dangerous thing.
We can easily get lost in our cyber world and think we are connected to others.
When in reality, we are disconnected from what really matters.
We have distanced ourselves from the ones that are flesh and blood right in front of us.

In this cyber world, we tend to want people around us when we want them.
We can un-friend, we can block, and we can un-follow other people.
We can stop the relationship at any time with one click.
We are connected to the unimportant and disconnected to what really matters.

When I had five young children at my feet, I had frustrating days once in a while.
I had the kind of days all mothers have at one time or another.
The kind of day when the name, Mom, is heard over and over in various pitches and tones.
I remember one such day.

Very firmly, I announced my intention.
For the next 30 minutes, I do not want to hear the word, Mom!
They had that stunned deer-in-the-headlights expression on their faces.
Not hear the word, Mom?

I was sorry I said those words after they left my lips.
Being their Mom was a privilege that I did not take lightly.
But I was human and I had my limits.
That day the limits were reached.

It was like birthdays in our family.
On that day and that day alone my children did not have to share.
It was freeing to think that they could play by themselves and no one would bother them.
Except it never happened.

They all loved being part of a large family.
They knew playing together was far more fun than playing alone.
It was enough to know they didn’t have to share.
They knew they didn’t have to share but they wanted to share all the same.

The attitude of wanting people around when we want them is not like Jesus.
Jesus was always gracious to those who intruded on His time.
Jesus was always kind and compassionate to the sick.
Jesus always had time.

Can you imagine if Jesus said what I said on that frustrating day?
For the next 30 minutes, I do not want to hear you calling My name!
Even when He was tired and weary, Jesus always had time.
Jesus handled His many detours with grace.

I do not always do such a great job.
If I am to represent Him, then I need to view my detours as Sovereign moments.
I need to understand that frustrations are part of the refining process.
I need to cherish the fact that I am one to whom people can come.

And when they come, I pray that they find Jesus.
I pray they find Him in my countenance.
I pray they find Him in my demeanor.
I pray they find that I am always pointing to Him.

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud. “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” As they were coming down the mountain Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” means…When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. (Mark 9:2-10, 14, 15)

The transfiguration happened on a mountaintop.
There Peter, James, and John saw Jesus in all His glory.
They had a mountaintop experience where they heard the voice of God the Father.
But mountaintop experiences do not last forever.

As soon as they came down the mountain, a crowd pushed in and ran to greet Jesus.
The crowd was arguing because the disciples could not drive an evil spirit out of a boy.
Jesus could have said what most of us would say under the circumstances.
Do you know what just happened on that mountain? I’m too busy to help you now.

He would have been justified if He put the people off.
He would have been justified if He considered this poor timing.
We would not have been as gracious as Jesus.
Jesus, the Son of God, took the time to help the boy possessed by an evil spirit.

Jesus took the time.

We have mountain top experiences and think we should stay on the mountain.
We can’t; we have to come down.
We have to face the needs and the wants of the people around us.
We have to face the detours.

We must be a people person even on a detour.
Even when we’re tired.
Even when we’re weary.
Even when we don’t feel like it.

There really is no excuse.
Detours are Sovereign moments.
How we respond to them tells us a lot about ourselves.
It tells us a lot about our relationship with God.

God is the only One worthy of being on the mountain for any extended period of time.
We are down in the valley kind of people.
Our lives are sprinkled with detours.
Be ready and willing to meet the detours head on with grace.

Do it all in Jesus’ name.