Please, consider your answer and fill in the blank.
I would be happy if someone would _____________.
BLANK SPACE IS INTENTIONAL
Are you ready with your answer?
Your FINAL answer?
Since we are not on a Zoom call, you can rest easy in your decision. Nobody will know what your answer is. Nobody will ask you (but feel free to share if you’d care to write a comment).
I’m going to take a guess at a few popular answers. Here we go.
In no order of preference, I would be happy if someone would______
- Love me.
- Respect me.
- Include me.
- Invite me.
- Promote me.
- Believe me.
- Consider me.
- Pray for me.
- Guide me.
- Stand up for me.
- Understand me.
- Greet me.
- Listen to me.
- Reply to me.
- Join me.
- Help me.
- Pay me.
- Talk to me.
- Stay with me.
Just like you, I am doing this on the fly. That list took only a few moments and I’m pretty sure that all of them ring true to someone. I must also acknowledge that a great number of possible answers have been missed. You can add to the list whenever you wish.
It is even possible to add negative answers to this list. That would include things like, "leave me alone", or "be quiet".
Well, since I am the writer, I feel obligated to divulge my answer.
I also feel obligated to ask, “Why do I choose to put myself in situations like this?”
Alright, no need to drag out the anticipation. This isn’t part of an infrasound-laced horror film. This grand-reveal commands no more than a simple ta-da!
SEE ME.
Yes, everybody, that’s my answer; See me. You’ll be asking for an explanation, and since I’m in a somewhat accommodating mood, I will pontificate just a bit.
Every answer above (including the less-than-positive) must start with seeing. You can’t love, talk, listen, help, or guide if you fail to first see the other person. You can’t purposefully ignore them either.
It is more likely than not, that when finding what would make YOU happy, you have also found what would make someone else happy. And of course, this is where the preaching gets down and dirty.
We are called to care for the sick. We are called to feed the hungry, invite this stranger, clothe those without, visit prisoners, and help the widows and orphans.
We cannot begin until we are able to see people. And by ‘seeing’ I am not referring to a peripheral glance, but a stop-ask-care kind of seeing; An eyeball-to-eyeball kind of exchange followed by action. And, since my word of the year is millimeters, this action does not have to be grand. A moment of active listening, a smile, an encouraging word, or considerately replying to an email might be all that’s required.
You can change someone's mood. You might even change the direction of their life. Because of your active awareness and directed actions, someone (friend, family member, stranger, or enemy) might smile happily as they fill in this blank.
"This very day, I am happy because someone __noticed__ me."
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
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