I learned this from my religion, which also teaches me that encountering another human being is as close to God as I may ever get– in the eye-to-eye thing, the person-to-person thing–which is where God's Beloved has promised to show up.
Paradoxically, the point is not to see God.
The point is to see the person standing right in front of me, who has no substitute, who can never be replaced, whose heart holds things for which there is no other language, whose life is an unsolved mystery.
The moment I turn that person into a character in my own story, the encounter is over.
I have stopped being a human being and have become a fiction writer instead."
~From Barbara Brown Taylor in An Altar in the World
(ps- If you haven't read this book you should move immediately from this blog to Amazon and order it right now!)
How often do I turn the people I encounter into characters in my own little story?
How often in our hurried world to I pass by the person on the street and fail to acknowledge their humanity with even a glance in their eyes?
How often to I take my groceries and my receipt without noticing the human being who hands me the bag?
Today, may we see the full humanity, mystery, depth, and life in each particular and unique person we meet.
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