Remain Civil!

I am going to try to remain civil in my blogging today and keep all outbursts to a minimum. Please note the word “try.” While I seem to be in a funk, I want to try and get past it without hurting too many people or at least without getting caught doing it. I believe this funk rests on failed expectations on my part, not that I wouldn't love to find someone to blame it on and ring their neck. But when coming to a new place or starting a new job, don't we all have high expectations? I don't really understand why we do, but I believe it has something to do with starting over and the thrill of it all. I don't remember how it started in Wilmore, but I do know that by the time we left, I was having lunch, dinner, coffee and prayer time with different people. I was known and knowing others in a world that really didn't have time to waste. We made time for each other, and while we may have been raised differently, we took the time to get to know each other. I think it's called making/doing community. 

This past weekend, when I walked into a group of women from the same church, I felt about 3.6 seconds of discomfort. I was an outsider that showed up in their midst for who knows what reason. But then it happened. "Hi! I don't think we've meet. My name is Donna." The wall had been broken,and there was no turning back. Those women took to me like a duck to water, and I took to them. The age range was 18 to 80, and it was one large family of ladies. In my two days back, I have gotten a phone call and some e-mails just wanting me to know they were thinking about me. Really!? I don't live in their town or go to their church! They took me in, and community was made.

I guess my point is this: If there is someone new at your work or in your church or even next door to you, why don't you do something daring like ask them to have some coffee with you? Take and make the time to get to know them and see if community doesn't happen. Slow down a little and think about how you felt the first time you walked into a new situation. Doesn't it feel good when someone sees you and acts like they care? Since I have been here (three and a half months), I have gotten asked to lunch one time, and you know what? I went! Expectations are a hard thing to get around, especially when they are failed ones.