Around Thanksgiving, we often think about the family and friends we are thankful for. Praise God for those people! Have you ever thought about the next layer of people in your life? This Thanksgiving, I want to challenge you to think of the people God has placed in your life that have not gained refrigerator rights at your house, but those you are just getting to know or you see everywhere because your paths often cross. They might be neighbors, parents of your children’s friends, or a coworker that God keeps orchestrating conversations with. We all have them in our lives.
Ask your children and spouse who these people are in their lives. Then, start praying for opportunities to get to know them. These opportunities could look like sitting next to them at ball games or intentionally raking leaves in your yard at the time your neighbor comes home, so you get a chance to have a conversation with them. Make this a family rhythm where you pray together for the people on your family list, or your individual list, as you eat breakfast or at bed time. When you engage with them or in prayer matters less than the consistent intentionality. Celebrate together when God provides those opportunities!
Enjoy the chance to get to know someone more. This is going to look different for all of us because God has made each of us unique with different gifts. So as God has designed you, go and use those gifts to care for and be intentional with the people around you. If you love to host, invite families into your home. If you love athletics, go make the most of your bleacher time to have intentional conversations. Or maybe you are like me where you thrive in one-on-one conversations. There are opportunities as you wait to pick up your children or sit through practice. Embrace where you already are and get curious about others' lives and care well for them. 1 Corinthians 12:31 continues talking about spiritual gifts by saying, “And I will show you a still more excellent way.” Chapter 13 says that if any of these gifts are used without love they gain nothing. The key is to do all things in love. Your care for the people on your list will increase as you pray for them, invest time and energy into connecting with them.
With the Christmas season just around the corner, it will feel easier to invite them to join you at church. The step of faith to ask them won’t feel so big if you have already been building that relationship. You cannot control what their answer will be, but you do have the choice to invite them and allow God to work through you. You never know when an intentional conversation or an invitation to church will be the thing that brings them to know the Lord. And when your children and your spouse see you doing this, guess who is going to get braver in their intentional living as well.