engaged

Noooo...it's not "engaged" in the way you are thinking!

I wanted to share a story that happened a few months ago. For some reason, it still sticks with me, and I have even referenced it a few times since. It impacted me, and yet it was such a minor occurance. Sometimes that is how it works.

It's been a few months back, but Chris and I stopped at Blue Taco for lunch. We rarely eat there, mainly because it is costly for a "fast food" restaurant. But, it was just the two of us, so we decided to enjoy some huge burritos. We ordered our food and chose our table.

After we sat down, I noticed two women sitting together. We knew one of the women because she is a college basketball coach and Aspen had been to her summer basketball camp a few years in a row. Very nice woman. She was sitting across a little table from another woman, and I debated whether they were friends or sisters. Hard to tell, but I leaned toward sisters.

We noted their existance, and went on talking...but my eyes kept being drawn back to the two women for some reason. We were there for over thirty minutes eating, and the entire time, the women talked non-stop in a casual, easy way. There was never a lull in the conversation. But the most extraordinary thing (to me) was that each one seemed so engaged in what the other woman was saying. They were each totally committed to the conversation and to each other in that moment. Such a rare thing.

There was no peeking at the cell phone, no break to send a quick text. They were completely unaware of the other patrons in the restaurant. They weren't sitting there, while the other woman was talking, trying to figure out what they were going to talk about next. They were enjoying the here and now, and they were engaged like I have never witnessed.

It was completely refreshing.

And it also made my heart ache just a bit. I do think God may have placed that moment in my path to show me something that is lacking in my life...my brain is often off in a million different directions, planning and worrying and thinking. I don't ever feel like I am completely in the moment, or that I ever give anyone my undivided attention. And in dealing with others, I feel like the same can be said for them. I am not fully engaged in people and they are not fully engaged in me.

I want to change that. And since I can only change myself, that is what I aim to do...