The Privilege of People

Occasionally, I realize not all good ideas come from books.  It is true that many of the things I ponder and the help I get for my own spiritual journey come from the reading I do.  I feel privileged to have been taught how to read.  It is unimaginable not to be literate, but I realize half the nearly seven billion people in our world cannot read.  

It is difficult to underestimate the breadth and depth brought to my life because I can read.  Just think, we can go back to ancient Greece when we read Plato or Aristotle.  We can go to first century Palestine to get a glimpse of how the apostle Paul experienced the work of the Spirit in his life and how he came to formulate his theology of early Christianity.  

The great thing about literature and the ability to read is different worlds and dead people are still available to us for conversation.  I can interact with Gandhi; I can converse with Karl Marx.  I can know those early Quakers---my forefathers and mothers.  When I think about it, I realize that long after I am dead, I can live through my words which are in print.  That is an odd form of immortality!

As good as being literate is, I am blown away by the privilege of people.  In the past couple days I experienced the privilege of being part of the beginning of a new group.  Not every person in the group is new.  In fact, some of us have been doing this kind of group for a decade.  So I know them pretty well.  And they know me pretty well.

But if new people are added to a group---even an existing group---the group becomes new.  As I looked around this group of folks, I was stunned by the privilege of being present.  Of course, the globe would keep spinning if we did not come together.  My life would have gone on, even if I had gone to lunch instead of to the group.  But what I would miss…

I am struck by the privilege of people.  Other people care about me in ways I cannot care about myself.  Other people tell me things I could never think on my own.  Other people ask questions I would otherwise never have posed.  My own life experience is broadened and deepened because other people share their experience and vicariously I can make it my own.

To be given the privilege of people is to be graced and blessed.  These are the two best spiritual words I can use to describe the privilege of people.  That privilege is a grace because it is gift.  There is nothing I do to earn it.  It is not a reward.  I have not bought their care.  I made no purchase of their concern for me and, perhaps, even love.  The privilege of people is a grace---a graciousness---and I can only be grateful.

And the privilege is a blessing.  Once upon a time, I did not really like that word---blessing.  It sounded a little too “religious” to me!  But I have come to value it.  Blessings are the opposite of cursings.  And Lord knows, there is enough cursing in our world today!

I have learned that blessings are the fruits of relationships---good relationships.  Blessings are fruits of relationships where there are good intentions, good actions, and good deals.  Blessings are not transactions…commodities which are bought and sold.  Blessings are transformational.  Bless me and I am a different person, a rich person.

So I am graced and blessed by the privilege of people.  Of course, there is much that could be said.  But in the face of grace, why speak.  Just smile.