Thinking is hard. No, really it is. Think about for a minute. A full minute. You don't want to think about thinking? Neither do I. So instead of thinking about thinking, let's think about what you missed today.
This morning as you drove to work was the first traffic light you came to green or red? You knew that answer as you were a few feet from it, but now the memory is gone. Experts tell us that we have short-term memory which allows us to recall something that we experienced a few seconds earlier and, if its importance to us is minimal, quickly forget it.
Then there are the things that seem common place because we have experienced them so frequently. Sometimes these things are quite extraordinary, but because they are repetitive they lose their impact and then their value to us. Several weeks ago my son Dan and I were driving through the Illinois prairie in the early evening. The flat farmland of Illinois has one advantage: there is nothing to obscure your view of a sunset. As I concentrated on driving, Dan looked to the West and said, "I don't know how anybody could be tired of sunsets. I know you see it everyday, but when you think about it they are amazing. Each one is different." Now as sunsets go, this one was mundane. No palm trees, sand beaches, and ocean waves to frame the foreground. No kaleidoscopic range of colors and shadows on a canyon wall. No beams of light breaking through cloud shapes that resembled animals or mythological creatures. Heck there wasn't even a gnarled tree or old barn which the sun was dipping behind. Of the better than 19,000 sunsets that I had experienced this one was frankly below average. But Dan was right, it really was awesome. What was wrong was my failure to appreciate how awesome it truly was.
Then there are those things that we miss because we are distracted. Sometimes we are distracted by the general busyness around us or we are focused on a task that has been given to us. Check out the link.
Last, there are the things that we miss because they don't fit into our agenda. Thankfully, the good folks in the field of television have produced the technology of recording. You can attend Cousin Clarice's daughter's oboe recital AND not miss the latest episode of your favorite reality television show that graces the airwaves. But how about the things we miss because they are connected to people who don't fit into our agenda. You know some of them by what they do, if not by their names. The checkout clerk that is developing wrist pain scanning hundreds of food and merchandise items each hour. Do you look her in the eye? Glance at his name tag? Have a conversation that consists of more than "Paper or plastic?" "Plastic. And be sure to bag the meat separately."?
I had a dream a week ago and when I awoke I had the phrase "The next ten for ten" in my consciousness. I understood it to mean that I needed to spend ten minutes learning about the next ten of these people that flit into my life solely to serve me. The bagger at Dillons with the funky haircut is named John. He cut and shaved the design in his hair. He hopes to be accepted into a barber school. Lisa served my wife and I our Valentine's Day dinner. That afternoon she spent the day with her boyfriend at a candy store picking out treats for each other. She moved to Kansas from Colorado two years ago to be with him.
Who will I meet tomorrow? I don't know, but I do know that God wants me to honor them the way he honors them. To treat them with respect. To care for them. Perhaps to share a laugh or a burden as we travel down the road together. Love God. Love people.
