Connections

Three years ago I began my journey at a giant high school where I knew almost nobody, not realizing the amazing ways the Holy Spirit would work through my life during my years there. I am somebody who tends not to realize the ways that the Holy Spirit is working through my life at the moment but many months after the fact I will see how he has been working. As I was reflecting on the past three years I realized that throughout all of this the Holy Spirit has been nudging to build connections with many people. I am someone who if I don't know anyone, I will hide behind a book and stay quiet, but at this school that solution began to be pushed away from me by the Holy Spirit. 

The first months of my freshman year I tried my tactic of avoiding people.  During lunches when I was not with my friends I would read by myself and in classes I sat mostly by myself and talked only to the teachers, But when clubs began at my school, I was blessed with the fact that a Bible study had just begun, so I quickly joined. This Bible study the past three years has been a huge part of my community at school and has shown me what it can feel like to have people with you in a community who are also believers. I have built connections and found support through this group;  they have become some of my closest friends at school. But even beyond this blessing the past year the Holy Spirit has been nudging me to talk to people beyond my friends and people in the Bible study, but instead with people who may not always agree with my beliefs.

I ride the bus to school every day and when I'm on the bus I try to sit by myself and read a book. But this past year there has been a girl on my bus that also reads books and I sometimes see her crying. So the Holy Spirit began to nudge me to talk to her every day for many months. This girl was someone who I had no previous connection to or really knew any of her beliefs. She was someone who I had to have a lot more courage to talk to. In the end the most courage I've ever had was to wave at her and tell her I hope she has a good day. Then one day she came up to me and sat down next to me on the bus.  We started talking about random things and my waving I realized had encouraged her so she had started the conversation. This connection grew and this summer I am hoping to continue to get to know her beyond the bus. 

Looking at this story and many others where I have been given opportunities to build connections and serve others who I may not always fully agree with has taught me that connections and the way the Holy Spirit works is so much more beyond just our beliefs and ideas: it's about serving and connecting with those who need it  much more than not. And even though it feels very scary or risky or takes lots of courage, we are constantly being given these opportunities. 

This spring in my Bible study we were studying Acts. When we started reading Acts ten, I began thinking a lot of how Peter was told by God to build a connection with the Gentiles. These were the people who he was taught his entire life were unclean and impure, the people who ate pig and other animals that were not considered things you should eat and instead were full of sin. But when the Holy Spirit spoke to him and showed him the vision of the unclean animals and him eating them, and then the next moment, people knocked on his door and asked him to come and talk to a Gentile about the Lord, he listened and obeyed. He listened and obeyed even though this was not something that followed his beliefs and was likely a bit scary and risky to do, but even so he did it anyway.  

The Holy Spirit has been nudging me to connect with people at my school and I wonder who he is nudging you to build connections with. Sometimes it's not necessarily the huge intense connections he is trying to nudge you to make. Sometimes it's even smaller like driving someone home who needs it or waving at a girl on a bus. Maybe it's even discussing with people you don't fully agree with and learning their side of things. I believe that the Holy Spirit is constantly nudging us all to expand our community and the people we get to know because in a sense our communities are like an unfinished painting. 

This summer I am learning to watercolor and while I am doing this I realized that I need to take my time because if I rush to layer different colors on my art it blurs together and becomes a giant mess, but if I take my time it turns out ok. When looking at my community I'm starting to see how it's sorta like a lifelong painting that the Holy Spirit is adding to one part at a time instead of rushing to throw every color on it at once.  With every stroke he may add someone to our lives who needs it and who we need in our lives. So perhaps when we notice the Holy Spirit nudging us to connect with someone, we should realize that as it could be hard it could really be the Holy Spirit adding one more brushstroke to the tapestry that is our communities and the people we'll connect with.