Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Tonight, Dana and I went to our first of four lamaze classes.  When we checked in at the front counter, we were told that there were four other couples already in the room. As we were walking down the hall, the thought ran through my head of I’m not up for meeting a bunch of new people.  I only spoke to one guy close by while I was taking my seat.  I felt reserved.  I noticed others were reserved.  A part of me didn’t like that the thought was pretty automatic for me.  Kinda how I’ve always been.

But, now is different.  Especially after many months in Tanzania.  I want to know people.  I want to find out about them.  I want to enjoy the time I’ll spend with them and them enjoy the time with me.  I can easily credit it all to me definitely now being a people person but there’s another big factor… God.  Jesus.  The Holy Spirit.  He has given me compassion for people.  Those I know.  Those I don’t know.  I like it and feel guilty when my habit of not being up to meeting new people dampens the God-given motivation in me to be something to somebody.

It also made me note a difference between Americans and Tanzanians.  When one of them walks into a room full of other TZians, every single person receives a face-to-face greeting.  As more time goes by, I begin to notice the many differences between the two cultures.  Some good.  Some bad.  I’ll leave it up to you to decide what you think.

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