{"id":3482,"date":"2014-07-15T07:19:17","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T11:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=3482"},"modified":"2014-07-15T07:19:17","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T11:19:17","slug":"come-to-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=3482","title":{"rendered":"come to the table"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"316-farmhouse-dining-table-with-food\"<\/a>This past weekend I had dinner with several couples, celebrating a birthday in one of their families.\u00a0 Over the course of the evening\u2019s festivities — full of food, fun, laughs, and excellent dialogue, there came a moment which later would cause me to pause.\u00a0 The conversation turned political.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a sharp conversation, nor anything intentionally rude or harsh or demeaning of someone or something.\u00a0 It was obvious, however, as the conversation progressed, that one couple felt something deeply… something sincerely…<\/p>\n

And so I asked…<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you feel respected for what you believe here?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 [Note:\u00a0 in the context, \u201chere\u201d meant the area in which we live\u00a0\u2014\u00a0not at our table.]<\/p>\n

There was an immediate, honest \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let me use a word I typically attempt to avoid… I hate<\/i><\/b> that.\u00a0 I hate it when anyone<\/i> feels disrespected.<\/p>\n

So let me be clear on who \u201canyone\u201d is…<\/p>\n

Anyone<\/i> is the person at your table who is pro-life or pro-choice… anyone<\/i> is the person at your table who adheres or not to an organized faith… anyone<\/i> is the person who is for or against gay marriage… anyone<\/i> is the person who believes in amnesty or instant deportation… anyone<\/i> is the person who thinks the same as you — or not.<\/p>\n

Once again I am humbly reminded that we are not respectful of just \u201canyone.\u201d\u00a0 That grieves me.<\/p>\n

Friends, respect does not mean immediate acceptance of all opinion as equally good and true.\u00a0 Respect means listening, seeking to understand, and resisting the temptation to become the convictor of truth in another\u2019s life.\u00a0 Far too often we justify disrespect…<\/p>\n

… they\u2019ve said too many stupid things…<\/i><\/p>\n

… they\u2019re just lost…<\/i><\/p>\n

… they\u2019re so misguided…<\/i><\/p>\n

You know what?\u00a0 There are many times in my own life where I\u2019ve<\/i> said stupid things… I\u2019ve<\/i> been lost… I\u2019ve<\/i> been misguided.\u00a0 No doubt there are areas and issues in which I\u2019m currently<\/i> misguided — some of which I know, as I can sense the internal pruning — and some of which I don\u2019t.\u00a0 I am open to and deeply desire that growth.\u00a0 I also have no doubt that \u201canyone\u201d will be used to teach me.<\/p>\n

My questions today are simple…<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s at your table?<\/p>\n

And who are you justifying disrespecting?<\/p>\n

Humbly…<\/p>\n

AR<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past weekend I had dinner with several couples, celebrating a birthday in one of their families.\u00a0 Over the course of the evening\u2019s festivities — full of food, fun, laughs, and excellent dialogue, there came a moment which later would cause me to pause.\u00a0 The conversation turned political. It wasn\u2019t a sharp conversation, nor anything … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “come to the table”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3482"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3488,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3482\/revisions\/3488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}