It happened Wednesday evening. The dog barked ( he only does that when the doorbell rings). When I got to the front door I was greated by two twenty-something members of a local church. When I stepped out on to the front landing and closed the door behind me I was wondering if I had made a mistake in answering the door at all. Both ladies had stern expressions- both had green plastic nametags - "Sister ____________" and "Sister ___________". Neither introduced themselves but instead launched in to a well rehearsed speech about my spiritual needs.
In rapid fire succession- at times talking over each other the words flowed and the speech went on. I stood in almost complete silence- the two short comments I had made were neither acknowledged or responded to. After several minutes- though it seemed much longer- I managed to hear my own voice.
Miraculously, there was a gap in the speeches and I plowed ahead with these words: " I find it amazing that you come here claiming to know my spiritual needs. You say you're motivated by the fact that you love me. That seems very strange to me since you never even asked my name." After moments of silence I was offered a small piece of literature. It was handed to me with the warning- "Now be sure to only take this if you plan to read it. We only have a limited number of them." As I turned back to the door, my uninvited guests began their walk to the next recipients of their pre-planned talks.
All of this has me thinking about all of the times I talk with someone- only thinking about my words- perhaps not even knowing the name of the person I am talking to (this happens even at church).
What is my motivation?
1) to LISTEN?
2) to HEAR the needs of the person I am interacting with?
3) Something else entirely ?
I am praying God will help me be truly motivated by love to serve those he brings me in contact with. If you truly love someone and want to share something that matters, be sure to know their name. Yes, it matters!
Steve Swanson
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