November 15, 2009

• "What do you most enjoy doing in your free time?"

  A year ago I was sitting around a campfire with some friends, and the question was posed to us: "What do you most enjoy doing in your free time?"

  Unfortunately, this immediately put me in a bind.   At that moment, and still today, the thing I most enjoy doing in my free time is "spending time with the woman I love."   It doesn't matter what we're doing... We could be hiking, or traveling, or talking, or eating, or reading, or shopping, or sitting in prison together for all I care.  Unfortunately, at that time the woman I loved was sitting around the campfire with me, and had previously made it clear to me that she did not feel the same way about me.  Thus for me to share that information would make her and everyone else uncomfortable.  But what were my other options?  Either lie, or withold that information somehow.  I didn't want to lie.  But witholding the information makes people suspicious of you... they think "what's he hiding?"   But the path of agape love is to take upon yourself the difficulties; sacrifice your own desires, for the sake of others.

  So when it was my turn, I said "Unfortunately I am not able to share the thing I most enjoy doing, at this time, but some other things I enjoy doing might include reading good books and having meals together with friends."

  • 10:24 am
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