Carrying Living Water in Good Conversations
What is it about good conversations that feeds our souls? The past week has been one of good conversations in ministry and beyond. I had thought my time was mostly spent on-line and in planning. But then I looked back and I see seeds of community in these times of interaction as people connect and share their lives.
Around a dinner table. Enjoying a meal and focusing on one conversation with twelve people. One topic. Play. Listening to one another, adding ideas, questioning statements. Feasting on this hour out of the week. Another conversation a week later. Less formal, but still nourishing as friendships grew by learning about one another.
In a coffee shop. Sharing stories of travel. Seeing the beginnings of a work to engage with God’s Word through illustrating the book of John. Hearing stories of another’s faith journey and desire to minister.
At the office. Learning about the spread of Christianity in India. Empathizing with a student returning to school after a series of job losses. Talking about a new film group starting up.
Throughout the art museum. Guiding my nieces on a scavenger hunt through galleries. Asking them what they are drawing in their notebooks. Seeing and hearing their reactions to the art. Sensing their excitement.
On the phone. With colleagues in campus ministry encouraging and praying for one another.
Yes, this been an unexpected series of nourishing conversations. “Like prayer, good conversation fashions words into vessels that carry living water” reads one of many reflections on the stewardship of words in Marilyn Chandler McEntyre’s Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. Without excessive planning, life and ministry this week has been less a series of tasks and more a growing stream of this living water. Amen.
Where did you experience ‘living water’ conversations this past week?