seeing the hearts of people. not just flesh.
realizing that we each have a story.
that man at the gas station may have lost his job today. he has a wife and 3 kids.
that woman at the grocery store may be a single mom.
that waiter who served you dinner may struggle so badly with drugs and can't keep a paycheck to save his life.
that seemingly "perfect" girl in church may struggle with her identity and loneliness so deeply that she is defined by what men think of her.
that old man you see in the elevator at work every morning may be a WW2 veteran and has never spoken about it.
that young man in college whose future looks so promising may battle severe depression and tells no one about it because shame has buried him.
that teenage girl you know, acting all -unladylike and not modest lost her father when she was 12. he didn't die. he just left one day and never came back.
that 60 year old man that says "hi sweetheart" to you almost every morning at your local coffee shop. the same man who sat down to talk to you one Wednesday morning, "hi, i'm Pete and i see you here almost everyday and i wanted to finally say hi. you remind me so much of my daughter. whatcha reading?"
"Oh, you know, the Bible. the book of Ephesians actually."
that same man, Pete, may die from a massive heart-attack later that afternoon.
such was the case with me a handful of months back.
my eyes flooded with tears when another coffee shop goer told me a week after it had happened.
i wondered if he knew Jesus.
i wondered if he'd thought about it after i told him about Him in a 10 second blurb that morning.
i wondered why i never took the time to get to know him.
i saw him almost every morning.
why didn't i?
why?
because i'm so focused on me.
too focused on me. what i have to do. where i have to go.
to take a second to STOP.
and observe the hearts of the people around me.
hearts. not flesh.
which do you see?
which do you look for?
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