Who Do You Include in Your Circle?

Who do you include in your circle?
Interaction fulfills our longing for relationship. However, the familiar rhythms of our days can easily dictate how we engage with others. We tend to proceed through our days on autopilot. As a result, we are often surrounded with familiar faces and voices who speak into our lives.
Who do your eyes gravitate to:
when dropping off your kids at school?
at work?
Bible Study?
on your street?
when you choose what to read?
in your city?
where you shop?
God’s design was intentional. We morph further into God’s likeness as we see God’s likeness in others. Our longing for companionship allows us the opportunity to be transformed through witnessing God’s character manifest in those different from ourselves.
But we also must be intentional to benefit from God’s design. In order to see the Imago Dei in others, we need to move outside of familiarity. We must be willing to hear and see narratives with which we have little understanding. Particularly if those narratives have been dismissed by our assumptions.
“[…] Like the God in whose image people are made, people are irreducible. There’s always more to a person – more stories, more life, more complexities – than we know. The human person, when viewed properly, is unfathomable, incalculable, and dear. Perversion always says otherwise.”
― David Dark, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything
A few years ago, I believed that my circle was quite diverse. I now realize that we are never done expanding that circle. Because God’s character is limitless. And so is the Imago Dei pointing to it.
We must always seek, listen, engage.
Looking for a place to start? Here is a list of people that can offer new perspectives and maybe even a place in your circle.
http://fiveminutefriday.com/2018/04/23/christian-women-of-color-speaker-writer-directory/
But don’t let this list limit you from seeking out different voices near you.  God’s voice transcends through others regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, geographical/cultural differences and physical/mental disabilities, marital status, and current struggles. Shouldn’t we be willing to listen?
This post was written for the Five Minute Friday Writing Community. Come join us! http://fiveminutefriday.com/