My husband shared the following incident. As he was leaving the weekly men's bible study group. one of the members approached him saying, "I see you coming into church at about 10 a.m. each Sunday and I wonder where you are going. I know you're too late for early service and you're too early for late service....I want to go where you're going." (He's going to a study of the scripture readings of that day.) Then the member asked if he could ask my husband's advice about a personal matter. The member proceeded to share a very personal problem -one with intimate details that one would not want to be public knowledge.
As I considered the whole incident I had a couple of thoughts. Primarily I wondered how this man came to know he could trust my husband so completely. I know my husband---he has strong opinions and he doesn't hold back in sharing those. He tells me about things he has said in this men's bible group and I sometimes wonder how that is received. He is passionate about how we are to live this abundant life Christ has given us; and he makes no bones about what that means to him theologically and in our day to day choices....practically and politically!
And here is a member who has heard this weekly for 6 months. He has come to trust my husband...trusts him to listen, to be non-judgmental, trusts him to keep his confidence, trusts him to give him sound advice framed in the context of "what is the loving thing to do."
Are there people in your life you can trust that way? How do you know they will be non-judgmental?
Am I a person who others come to with that trust? Are you? How do they know that?
Do I live a life in word and example that reflects my belief in sharing this abundant life?
Blessings-Penny
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