Go now, a child of God. Choose well the road you take,
And the decisions you make. Keep in mind always that The God you serve continues to call to you, making you more and more every day into the faithful one God wants you to be.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

You and Me Collide

I was reading this story “the Dating Coach” written by Brandon Stanton who has a wildly popular website Humans of New York (HONY)  It is a great story.  Brandon is someone I read often.  Check HONY out.  

 This is my favorite part of the article: 

“You know why I find you interesting?” I asked.
“Why’s that?”
“Because you take charge of chaos.” I paused to form my thoughts, then continued: “This city is so random and chaotic. There are so many people, and so many opportunities. But most people just hope that chaos will spin their way. They hope that they will be in the right place, at the right time, and will meet the right person. They hope that if they keep with their routine, they will somehow collide with something good. But you force these collisions. You collide with everything around you. “
“Wait,” said John. “Say that last thing again.”
“You force collisions. You collide with everything around you.”
“I love how you said that. You are really intelligent.” John seemed very sincere. ”I mean seriously, you are like a philosopher. You are definitely somebody I would like to hang out with again.”


“I normally try to validate a person as soon as I can,” said John. “Everyone wants to be validated.”

Brandon didn’t leave NY to find his adventure, he does the same thing John does when he interviews people and takes their pictures; he collides with the people around him, where he lives.  
  
I want to collide with others the same way.  When I was more social I was charismatic and interacted often.  I was used to being the stranger in a room and the person to make others feel at ease and I always found people to be very interesting. Making friends was easy. My life now is more family and work centered. 

Today I examined my greetings with each human interaction and validated each person.  I recognized voices on the phone, called people by name before they introduced themselves and if I talked to a stranger, I wrote their name down immediately so I could say their name when I said goodbye before I hung up.   Validating others is a good practice.

Luci Swindoll’s first chapter in her book, “Doing Life Differently”  is titled, Capturing the Journey.  She told a story about meeting people in a tribe in Africa, and she was so interested in each person, that she did not see the flies, or the dirt, or feel the heat, she just saw the people.  I want to think she saw souls, souls she wanted to collide with. 

I have been wanting to travel to have adventures, but maybe, like the dating coach, Brandon, and Luci,  I am supposed to collide right where I am.  Notice the small things- sometimes small things in someone else’s life – well, they are really BIG. 

A small thing someone might notice about me today; I have pink paint in my hair.  Not a lot, but enough. How can a drop of paint in my hair be something BIG?  I am painting a portrait of my daughter.  Painting is my hobby.  I never paint portraits.  It is my first.  Maybe it will be something big.  Oh the possibilities!


Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

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