On my way to work this morning, I stopped by a branch of the
bank we use to get some cash out of the account. I like to carry some cash, and usually get a “refill”
every couple of weeks on payday. And, as
I like to have tens rather than all twenties, I go into the bank rather than
use the ATM.
After greeting the security guard, who held the door open
for me, I entered the building. I
stopped at the only window that had a teller.
Ashley (not her real name) was “manning” the station. After a greeting, I told her I wanted some
cash out of the account and prepared to swipe my card. She looked at her computer screen and told me
she would have to re-login as something had kicked her off of the system. In trying to log in, she got an error message
which wouldn’t let her log in.
While she was trying to fix the problem, she apologized to
me for the wait. I told her in the most
cheery voice I could muster at that time of day (I’m not a morning person), “It’s
OK. I’m not in any hurry.” And I just casually waited. There was another teller in the building, but
he was helping a customer at the drive-in window.
Ashley told me that she was re-booting the computer, and
that it was being slow. We had a brief
conversation about the Windows platform the bank was using (Windows 7), and a
little about the weather. Finally, the
other teller was finished at the drive-up window and helped me at another
station.
On my way out, I checked in with Ashley. She said, “It’s working!” I responded with something I can’t even
recall now and gave her a thumbs-up. I
then thanked the guard at the door and went out to the truck.
On my way to my vehicle, something washed over me. It was a kind of combination of an “Aha,”
moment and a feeling of gratitude and worship.
Yes, worship. I had just had
interaction with three other people…Ashley, the other teller, and the security
guard at the door.
Do you realize what a gift that is…the gift of interaction
with others? Do you understand that it
is interactions with others, even in that kind of setting, which give us our
humanity, lighten our mood, and validate our place in the world? We have the incredible God-given opportunity
to communicate with other beings in His creation…to share life and living, even
in the briefest and most routine circumstances of our day. We have the wondrous opportunity to affect
another human being in ways that we may never, ever know or understand, even to
the point that such can happen when we smile, do business with, or greet them
in a casual way as we go about the course of our day.
I have the pleasure of interacting with several people many
times a week…Curtis…our preaching minister, Doug…our evangelist, Linda…our
office manager, Eric…our worship leader and children’s minister, Jonathan…our
youth and family minister, Pat…my wife, and many others. I also have occasion to interact with others
such as wait staff at a restaurant, the check-out person at the grocery, church
family, those who need benevolence help, my relatives and blood family, and a
host of others…many of whom I don’t know, and will never know their names. And that interaction is my opening to make
their day a little better and brighter, as well as keep me grounded in terms of
who I am and Whose I am.
God has given us a gift…a gift that we mostly take for
granted as we do most of the gifts He lavishes on us. Please use the gift of interaction with
others wisely and for the glory of the God who created you and those with whom
you interact. Blessings.
No comments:
Post a Comment