I think I am grumpier than the average person. Sometimes I just don't feel like being around people. It rears its head at the worst times. For instance, I'll go to the grocery store and get up to the counter with a lovely cashier and just suddenly stop being socially interested and grunt my way through the transaction. I am certain that when I leave the till I've made the cashier's day worse and I certainly didn't help show her Christ.
We tend to think of Jesus command to be a light to mean that we need to do out of the ordinary acts of love and kindness. Although I think this is part of it I do think we miss many of the everyday opportunities to show his love in small tangible ways. Sometimes many small showings of love to a particular cashier, in amongst all of the grumpiness of the other customers, might just help to shine a light into their life that would illuminate her to the love of Christ. So, Tim, STOP BEING GRUMPY.
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stop reading my journal
ReplyDeleteWait, let me clarify: My journal does not say "Tim stop being grumpy"...
ReplyDeleteBut I'd like to hear your (and others) thoughts on this: is just the outward non-grumpiness enough? What if my heart is still grumpy but my face is all sunshine and roses? Thinking of Mike's series I know that the solution is doing anything and everything to increase the intensity and sincerity of my devotion to Christ. But what about in the meantime? Is it okay to fake niceness?
And as a former Tim Horton's coffee wench who dealt with a plethora of grumpy customers, yes indeed: your obvious niceness can change the course of a checkout girl's day.
Yeah interesting questions. Hrmm. This is where having significantly more of the bible memorized would help :) I would say that faking the outside could be helpful but only if one is working to make the inside match the outside. Also, One should not always fake the outside...especially not in the context of Christian community.
ReplyDeleteI'll try not to get too up on my soapbox here but it seems to me many of us Christians have things backwards. We try to go to church on Sunday and smile like everything is great and then show the real us to the world by our lack of love and care and generally sour faces. I think the opposite should be true. Bring your junk to the church and let the community of believers be a catalyst for healing and then take the better you out into the world, showing them what a difference Christ makes in your life.