Perhaps this is why we sum up and judge people within the first 7 seconds of meeting them. We’re not really meeting them; we’re meeting someone from our past or someone that falls out side of our beliefs system. Think about it: what in the world could we possibly know about most people in only 7 seconds?
First, showing up. Mrs. FKB’s parents have what I call a “ministry of showing up.” That is to say, on one occasion after another — graduations, weddings, funerals, birthdays, baptisms, ordinations, family reunions, you name it — they are there.
My dear wife was not happy with me! We had three small kids requiring three adults if the rug rats were going to get to ride the bumper cars. I gave her the look, “You really don’t have a choice.”
She had bottled her fears for so long that giving them life by naming or sharing them felt like a betrayal. Not just a betrayal to herself, her kids and her marriage, but more so to her hopes and dreams.
I believe that the myth of finding one’s soul mate is at the heart of much that is going badly in our intimate relationships, particularly our ongoing tendency to get divorced.