Familiarity brings out the desire to connect. Have you ever noticed that in your life?
I have, in fact, just this morning. I witnessed two strangers connect over something that was familiar to both of them.
Maybe there is some kind of bond that is created with familiarity, an invisible string that ties our hearts together with one another.
When you think about it, familiarity warms our hearts.
If we hear a song on the radio that we knew from long ago, often there is a noted smile that crosses our faces. We put our attention to it. We remember places and people who also shared that song with us.
This connection is so strong that we can picture a place in the past where we heard that song. Our mood may have been flat or even down, but a familiar song changes that in an instant.
And for at least the length of that song, our mood has brightened.
Just being in the same room as someone we have known in the past can change how we talk, how we relate; we can even become more animated.
I know this is true when I get with the guys I went to high school with. Though we are all grown men, we start relating and acting and talking like we did back in high school.
That’s the kind of thing familiarity does. That invisible thread gets tied to each other’s hearts and we don’t go back in time, but the past somehow get injected into how we interact with each other.
It really is an amazing thing.
This morning at hockey there were two guys in the dressing room who didn’t know each other. They had never met before, except for seeing each other skating around the ice. But this morning they were changing in the same room.
One of the guys had a tattoo of Newfoundland over his heart.
I had noticed it, but didn’t say anything. I just figured he was from there, or it was a special place to him.
But another guy across the room noticed the tattoo and spoke up.
“You from Newfoundland?” he asked. And the tattooed guy responded, “Yes I am.”
What transpired next was pretty amazing. It was that familiarity at work.
They went from complete strangers to being deeply connected to each other.
Somehow, though being from different places on “the Rock”, they not only knew things about where each other was from, but they knew some of the same people.
The room might as well have been empty of other people because all they did was banter back and forth about their homeland.
The more they talked, the thicker and thicker their accents got as they connected more deeply.
They left the room together and when I finally emerged from the dressing room, they were still engaged in conversation beside the rink.
I made my way out to my car, got my hockey bag into the trunk, and started to pull out of my parking spot.
These two were now in the parking lot … still engaged in conversation.
They may never leave each other’s company.
Here’s the thing: I’ve been reading through the Bible each year for the past 25 years. There is now a familiarity with it that draws me to it and warms my heart to it each day as I read. Daily read God’s word to develop a familiarity that connects you to God.
That’s Life!
Paul
Question: What connection do you have with God’s word? Leave your comments and questions below.
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