2020 Vision

As it has turned over to a new year, so has my life. Many things surround us that we do not tend to see, and many things surround us that we choose not to believe, even if we see. As I sit on a bench at my school, enjoying this cool and refreshing breeze, I notice those who are around me. There are people on hammocks enjoying each other's company and swinging in the wind, there are people who are long-boarding on the sidewalks, and then there are people who simply pass by this wonderful day. I look behind me to my right and I see the Cross that is at the Chapel.

Looking at all these things, I cannot but help think back to my time in Switzerland. The main lesson I learned there was that of people. All people want one thing and that is to be seen by others. It does not matter what religion, ethnicity, nationality, etc., all people want to be seen and understood. This lesson has been so ingrained in my mind for this school year that I even brought it into my job. I am the Service Day Coordinator for Bryan College. Service Day is an event where all of Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, closes down and serves the community in which we reside. Around 500 people, faculty, staff, and student, go into Rhea county and serve over 3000 people. I have the honor to set this up with our community partners and with the school. My theme is "Vision: Seeing Those Who We Serve" and it is based off of the lesson I learned in Switzerland. When we serve people, regardless if it is Bryan College or you who is reading this, we tend to think of the action of us serving them and not the person we are serving.

We always want the gratification of serving someone that we do not think of the person we are serving. We might love to serve but for what purpose? Is it for the glorification of ourselves or to actually see the person in need as a person and not a project? The people we serve have scars that we do not see. They have stories they want to tell but have no one that stop and listen to them.

So, how do we listen to people? You might say, "Well, Jack, we listen by hearing them." What if I told you that listening is not always with your ears? I've already alluded to how seeing people is not always by our eyes but instead in acts of service. But listening, can that, too, be accomplished through acts of service? What about the other four love languages? While listening can, and often does, start with hearing people, we have to be willing to take what we hear and continue to listen by our actions. Our actions say, "I have heard you loud and clear. I love and care for you so much that I thought of doing this or giving this." Giving of yourself or of material and spiritual needs say already that you hear them. Even if it is in some quality time in a rough patch of life, that too can be hearing the person and what they need.

My challenge to you is to hear and see someone this week. How are you doing that? What is the primary way of you doing that? See yourself and figure out how you can see others around you.

May God bless you and keep you. Amen.