The 'smallest' need to be heard
Acknowledge all people
Prelude
I wasn’t going to share this, but what is the point of this blog if I'm not authentically conveying some of my most pressing thoughts?
Yesterday was my first time working an actual job in 2 years. (Bear in mind I’ve been working since 13/14, so I’m not alien to working.) Honestly, even getting there required me to lay aside a lot of pride. It was my pride more than anything. Really and truly I didn't have to work this shift at all, I'm actually fine. On Monday I realised I had completed a lot of my weekly meetings (completed 3 by 11 am, team productivity!) so my Tuesday was looking relatively free. That being said, with specific projects and ventures I’m working towards, a little extra capital looked nice.
If I had organised myself properly and sent off my invoices on time, I probably wouldn’t have even considered working but alas I redownloaded an agency app and managed to find my password to log in. I debated doing the shift for a whileee, even in the morning after my quiet time, I honestly asked God if there were any lessons I could learn from this. My main concern was seeing people (particularly those I may have addressed at speaking engagements or even my friends.) It may sound so trivial to you, but these worries were genuinely causing unease in my mind. Me being a runner in a box suite at a stadium isn't deep at all, but for some reason, I was reluctant to bring myself to do it. Suited and booted NYA turned to serving and tending, but during the shift, I tried to think about what lessons I could actually learn and here are some of them:
I really enjoy what I do and I'm so blessed to have the opportunities that I have. When you're so consumed by and normalised to things, it can cause you to be unappreciative. Sitting in long meetings is much easier than polishing hundreds of forks.
I was even in such a fortunate position to debate working or not. Not everyone has that luxury of having something else to fall back onto.
I want my future to be spent doing something that brings me joy and fulfilment; with the right intuition, I can find ways to have a pretty decent life.
In every opportunity, take time to find out about others and their stories. Met a great guy who’s an engineering student at UCL and was taking a gap year due to some hardships. This guy was great, he’s a budding photographer and has been spending his year doing short courses to broaden his skills.
(P.S. If you earn from invoices, don’t be like me and send them off late.)
Today's post is a relatively short one, written in a similar vein to last week's post ‘Loving is a contact sport’ (have a read if you haven’t already) which explored the importance of tangibly meeting people’s needs.
Make people feel valued
Following the final lesson in the prelude, I’ve been working consciously towards acknowledging the ‘smaller’ people in the room. Not smaller in terms of stature, but those who aren’t as obviously heard, are quieter or don't naturally command as much respect in a room. I think there’s a role for We, the more extroverted or affable, to really draw such people into conversation. There’s the obvious disclaimer of leaving people alone who don't want to be disturbed, but I also believe there's a charge to actively involve people; often they may have such enthralling thoughts but lack the confidence to articulate them in a large group. I’m very big on doing everything possible to make people feel just that bit better and I think this has a huge part to play in that.
Beauty in Acknowledgment
There’s a beauty in making people feel heard. Acknowledgment matters. Efforts to even just greet people can result in someone feeling so important. For those who don’t know me personally, I'm a big character and quite genial, however, there have definitely been occasions where I've felt very ‘small.’ Sometimes in rooms with people older than me or who have achieved way more than I have, I naturally cower into a reclusive state, doubting the little value I could potentially add to the conversation. Some of my most memorable, electrifying moments have been those where I've been invited into dialogue on tables I would've never imagined. Actively including people, no matter the occasion is something we should all work intentionally towards. The efforts aren't ones birthed from pity or feeling sorry for them, but out of a respect and love that desires everyone to feel valued.
Thought: In my life, some of the quietest people I've interacted with are probably the most introspective and analytically profound people I've ever met. When I first “clocked” onto these quiet people, I was initially scared because they’ve probably psychoanalysed me and my loud mouth. It’s crazy seeing a ‘quiet’ person around their actual friends, two different people. I remember in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 how happy Electro was when Spider-man acknowledged him when everyone else didn't.
God is no respecter of persons
In the Kingdom, the dynamics appear to be completely flipped. There’s a whole new paradigm where a person's position isn’t characterised by their outward endowments but their faith. We see in Matthew 23:10-12 the idea of pride being humbled, and humility exalted. Also in Philipians 2:3-4 we’re told to count others more important than ourselves and look out for others. My mind is brought to the story of the Rich man(notice how he isn’t named) and Lazarus, who lay at the gate of the rich man’s house begging. We see that the script is drastically flipped towards the end Luke 16:19-31. It really feels like in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter your social standing. God isn’t a respecter of persons and heaven will not demonstrate the same biases earth does. Think of Christ, who in a time where children were to be seen and not heard, actively encouraged for them to be included (Mathew 19:14.)
I find that the greatest people I’ve met have an act for drawing people in socially and have a desire to really make everyone feel valued. If you lead any teams or organisations, you are best able to empower people by making them feel valued.
Let us not allow our pride in not communicating with people be at the expense of causing people to not feel valued. Your acknowledgment of someone else, could convince them to stay on the earth an extra day.
NYA
Reading:
Book Club: Atomic habits
Book club is still going strong and in our reading of atomic habits, James Clear is speaking to the importance of your environment in enforcing or discarding habits. The research proved contrary to my preconceptions on how important one’s environment is, showing a large proportion of people who come out of rehab and go back to the same environment relapsing.
Personal reading: Prodigal God
Was a great read and I've been recommending it to everyone. If you haven't got it already, please give it a read this Easter break. My next personal read is Seeking Allah finding Jesus which because of my apologetics interests, I’ve heard a lot about and engaged with some of its material already. I’m excited to read Nabeel’s story authentically recounted by himself before he died in 2017.
I Want to grow this Blog! I think the content here has been great, even whilst writing it I learn so much. Someone recently posted an excerpt from the blog without the name and when I came across it and read it, I figured I had written about a similar theme and commended the person's literary style. Turns out it was my own writing looool
Please share your favourite blog post with 3 other people and let's grow this community.
Had to come back and read again, some parts I could really relate to
Great read !