My husband, Brad, and I have been ships passing in the night a lot this semester. Our schedules are opposite. He basically works 9 to 5 and I work a lot of evenings. Last week I came home from a particularly long day, bouncing from one place to another. My head could hardly keep up. I didn't get home until after nine and was, of course, kinda ready for bed. In my way, I picked up my laptop, sat next to Brad on the couch and checked my email. It is a habit. It took me a few minutes to realize maybe it was a bad habit. By logging onto gmail, I found myself quickly engaged in three different chats. Brad was trying to talk to me, catch up on our days, the usual. And of course, he was in the room with me. But, I was so busy chatting with other people, I forgot to pay attention to him.
I caught myself in the middle of the habit and realized that sometimes, love is simply paying attention. It is easy to feel insignificant, but in a loving relationship, you feel significant. Someone else sees you, hears you, and recognizes you as a person full of worth and dignity. When we are "in" love, we pay attention to another person deeply. And when we cultivate love, we pay attention to a person intentionally.
I think this applies both to relationships with all kinds of people - friends, family, spouses, partners, and even strangers - but also to our relationship to God. Do we pay enough attention to God? Do we give God enough of our time? Do we recognize when God is paying attention to us?
today's meditation was written by Abigail King Kaiser.
Comments