SO THAT’S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR!

Many times we get together with friends to enjoy each other’s company and conversation.   I’d venture to say that women are probably more attune to what another woman is wearing or notices if she’s changed her hair style than ordinarily a man would.   However, it’s the “inner beauty” of a person that makes a person really attractive.   Noticing the little details about another individual for the purpose of encouragement can certainly go a long way in building a bond with another.

If we’re honest and admit it, many times we are more concerned that our shoes match, and that we’re not wearing a color that isn’t becoming to our features.    People who are secure in who they are seem to be far more free in being able to  compliment others.  Those tags on our clothing don’t determine our identity or that we are special at all.   Because God personally and intimately designed each of us….that makes us all special to Him.   We are His masterpieces because of how in our mother’s womb, He fashioned us.

I can almost count on one hand the number of sincere compliments I’ve received from other women.   I often tease other gals when I’ve complimented them by saying:   “If another woman says you look pretty, you look pretty.”

This wee story isn’t to elevate the need of sincere compliments, but a lesson in the “observation of others.”  To value another person does, of necessity, require us to forget our self and focus on the other individual. 

One morning as I walked out to get the mail I noticed my neighbor in her front yard.  I walked across and said hello.  Normally I head right for the mailbox and straight back into the house because I usually have things I need to do, and so, I seldom chat with anyone on the street.  

But my neighbor seemed to catch my eye, and my steps seemed to pause in the middle of my return inside our home.  I had a busy schedule that morning.  You know things to do, places to go, people to see (you get the drift by now….I wasn’t in the chatty mood).    My goal was just to retrieve the mail and get back to my busy life.

What I hadn’t realized is that God “is into the details” of our life.

This neighbor (a lovely lady) customarily was dressed very casual and jeans were often the dress of the day.  This morning in my marathon to the mailbox and back I found my feet retracing their steps across the street and into her yard.   That wasn’t my plan……but spontaneity (and the sovereignty of God) moved me in that direction.

I “happened” to notice that she was in a lovely green sweater, and curiously my glance focused on her ears.  This isn’t usually my pattern of scrutiny when I meet another person, but that morning’s observation seemed odd that my glance would go from the sweater to her ears.

You’re wondering where I’m going with this….so hold on, there’s more coming.  

I usually pray for all the neighbors who live around our home on Thursdays, and I had been asking the Lord for a growing sensitivity to notice people and to know “how to reach out in practical, yet personal ways.  I enjoy building friendships, but it takes for me to come out of my personal comfort zone and “forget about myself.”  That’s the hurdle God wants all of us to succeed in crossing.

Later in the week I was out shopping (something I’m not fond of doing.  Really!!!).   I passed by a jewelry counter and noticed there were expensive pierced earrings on sale.  I don’t wear pierced earrings….so there was no need to pause by that counter. 

A pair of green earrings seemed to shout at me with a loud request “take me home.”   They also happened to be the very shade of green of my neighbor’s sweater.  You know, the one she was wearing the other day.

It wasn’t important that she was wearing a nice sweater.  What was important in reality was the fact that “someone noticed her…really noticed her.” 

This kind of observation “honors another” (1 Peter 2:17) because it shows we’re interested in them:  and that they aren’t just a “backdrop” to our day.

Well the earrings popped into my purse….after I paid for them of course, and I knew right away who their rightful owner would be.  You guessed it, my neighbor who was adorned in the emerald green sweater.

I brought them home and wrapped them in a little box.  It wasn’t long before I made my way over to her home.  It wasn’t Christmas or her birthday, but an average day.   A great day to give an “unexpected gift” to an “unsuspecting neighbor.”

Her response was incredible.  Two things I learned about her.  Number one, her favorite color was green, and secondly, her comment that followed was:   “How did you know I had pierced ears?”

Here was an “everyday encounter” in which God sensitized me to the need to “notice others”…. and it was my neighbor across the road in particular that He used.  That observation and my response to God’s leading, opened a door. 

GOD IS SO PRACTICAL…..if we just allow Him to be.    WHY?

So God can use our eyes to “look at others, relate to others and to help them by meeting a need they may have, to smile at others or just to encourage them with a “tiny surprise.”

Let’s be on the lookout for people….and not allow them to just appear as “background material” in the course of the daily steps of our walk each day.   

By the way, do you know if your “female friends” wear pierced earrings, or clip-ons?   That’s observation!