Reflections
Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.
~ Roy T. Bennett
We need to cultivate the courage to be uncomfortable and to teach the people around us how to accept discomfort as a part of growth.
~ Brené Brown, Professor/author/Speaker
Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing. ~ Elie Wiesel, 1928-2016
Friendship is an invitation to explore more deeply what you believe about God and learn how to express it. How is friendship molding you to become who you are meant to be in the kingdom of God? Friendships are meant to draw us more deeply into our callings as we learn how to love and serve one another. The best friendships are not built just on the basis of love, and not just on the basis of history, but on the basis of the kingdom of God and the intersecting of the gifts that God has given each. It is one of the few places that shows us what it means to love someone and to learn how to play together.
~ Dan Allender, Psychologist/Author
It is not a good sign when a person recognizes no difference between sucking sweets and eating a square meal. Equally, it is not a good sign when Christians recognize no difference between social activities in Christian company and fellowship… Thus, Christian fellowship is an expression of both love and humility. It springs from a desire to bring benefit to others, coupled with a sense of personal weakness and need. It has a double motive—the wish to help, and to be helped; to edify, and to be edified. It has a double aim—to do, and to receive, good. It is a corporate seeking by Christian people to know God better through sharing with each other what, individually, they have learned of Him already.
~ J.I. Packer (1926-2020), Author/Theologian
This Sunday’s readings: Acts 20:36-21:14