Don’t Touch That Door

I almost did it again the other day, but this time I stopped in time. Here’s the story. We are blessed to have a great mechanic who has worked on our cars for years. He’s honest and competent, has reasonable prices, and truly cares about his customers. He’s also one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. When I took my car in for an oil change, I realized I had forgotten my wallet. His response: “No problem. Just pay me later.” When I went back to settle the bill, he was in his office and was in a talkative mood. I found myself with reaching for the door when a quiet voice whispered to my soul, “Don’t you think you can bless this man with an extra minute of your ‘valuable’ time?” The truth about me is that I value task over people far too often. I tend to measure my day by the number of things I get done, not the number of people that I have a chance to bless. In that moment with my mechanic, I had completed the “to do” – I had paid my bill. Therefore, in my mind, it was time to leave and move on to the next task. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit gave me that nudge and I stopped before opening the door. Some of you are the opposite of me. If so, this blog may help you understand the struggles of people like me. For those who are driven by tasks and by checking things off of a list, let me affirm your productivity and your sense of urgency to accomplish the mission. Without people like us, the church or ministry or non-profit might never make any progress. But let me also caution you to be aware of and sensitive to the people that are wired differently from you. When you don’t spend that extra minute to engage them in small talk, you actually communicate very loudly, but the message is not what you want them to hear. It really doesn’t take that much time to engage someone in conversation. In doing so, you show that you care about them and value their ideas. Think about that before you reach for the door. It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>