Giraffe

It's a giraffe. 


So we're playing Pictionary at Senior High night and a kid is drawing Noah's Ark and everyone is yelling out answers until someone gets it right. 

The draw-er was ready to move on, but we all howled, "What is that?" 

His offended answer was, "sheep" and we laughed even harder.

"No, behind the sheep." 

"Oh, it's a giraffe."

And then he looked at his incomplete giraffe and we all died laughing. Luckily I was sitting down or I might have peed. 

Here's what I love about life and find humbling on a regular basis - I can see things clearly in my head and I think I've drawn an easy to understand picture for those around me, but in reality we are not seeing the same thing.

I'm slowly learning to ask more questions, leave room for more interpretations, and admit that I can be wrong or at least have an incomplete picture.

When I find myself being reactive to someone's perspective, I think of that sweet phallic giraffe. First of all, it makes me laugh and laughter does tend to diffuse some of the reactivity. Secondly, it reminds me that what I see clearly or think I'm communicating clearly can come across in ways I don't intend. 

My second favorite part of youth group, because I don't want you to think I'm a crappy pastor, was the "God's love is like . . . game." The teens wrote down random objects around the room on a card without knowing why and then passed it to someone else who had to finish the sentence, 
God's love is like . . . a boot. It helps you wade through the muck of life. 
God's love is like . . . ping pong. It takes some back and forth.
And my favorite:
God's love is like . . . a coffee pot. I can't remember what the person said but I think it's a perfect image.

Teenagers make me so much wiser if I remember to stop talking, play more, and listen.