Waiting different

In parish ministry I noted the phenomenon of people who only showed up in Church on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  They were notably absent on the days one might name as cheerier.  Days like Christmas and Easter.  Yes, those two days have their sole adherents as well.  We all know about them.

This was going to be a piece on people focusing on the negative, remembering mortality and never making it to remembering divinity.   

Now it isn*t. 

I re-thought this after taking my two hour turn in the church library imposing ashes on the foreheads of the 27 people who came in off the street, only one of whom I had met before.  In English and Spanish, I spoke dust.  For the most part, there was no conversation beyond dust.  An occasional thank you.  An extended conversation with the mother of an eight month old: they both received ashes.  We discussed crawling and rolling and all the various forms of locomotion babies employ before they finally walk.  In between people I sat in silence and thought about the person who had left.  I prayed for the next person to come.  I waited different.

Consider this:

How is your mind set for the next person to walk through the door?  Is it open to what that person might offer, a brief interaction, a conversation?  When that person leaves, how do you think of them?  What do you think?   How are they like you?  How are they complementary to you?  How can you wait different?