Eavesdropping
One thing I have been trying out to cultivate more LOVE is inviting my coworkers to eat lunch with me once a week or bring a treat to share with the office. I keep the rules pretty lax for myself, so it does not seem like a chore. Sometimes I have messaged the whole office saying, "I'm going to lunch if anyone wants to join!" Other times I have messaged just one coworker who I am closer with asking if they'd like to join. And other times I let myself skip because I really need a lunch alone.
This last time I asked the coworker whom I am closer to if he wanted to join me for lunch. He happily agreed and asked me where to meet since he was going to step out to buy lunch. I, similarly, didn't pack lunch so I told him I would walk with him wherever he was going. We ended up trying a new deli nearby that we'd both heard was good. Just a regular, MUNDANE deli.
While we sat at the deli, we began chatting. We started with family and family dynamics, then got into family history. As we began talking about family history, I began sharing about a book I was reading that made me surprisingly emotional regarding some parts of my family history. I had never regarded myself as someone who was emotional about the past; I always saw it as something sad but also something to learn from. Nothing more. So I asked my coworker, "Does your family history make you emotional?" The question fit perfectly into our MUNDANE conversation.
He began to share parts of his history that did and parts of his history that didn't. It invited me to do the same. We went back and forth for a while … until we were interrupted.
"Sorry, I do not mean to eavesdrop but I couldn't help it. I just wanted to say it makes me so happy to hear you having this conversation because it is so important." I was kind of shocked at first, because I didn't even see the woman sitting there. We just nodded happily, but she continued, "You guys really made my day because you have given me hope that people are still willing to have hard conversations."
Woah. I didn't even think our conversation was that hard or moving. Honestly just MUNDANE. But what I learned in that moment is that even my MUNDANE might convey LOVE to those eavesdropping.
Maybe eavesdropping is not all that bad. Maybe eavesdropping to find LOVE in the MUNDANE can make your day. Have you listened in to find LOVE in someone else's MUNDANE?
