You will likely not find a more legitimate introvert than I am. This has been true since I played alone in the creek and red clay hills of my childhood home. Considering this way that God has wired me and adding to it the times in my early adulthood that church community misunderstood, mistreated, and generally disappointed me, I had become quite comfortable in keeping my circle very small. My work required my community involvement, but I pulled into my driveway every day exhausted from the effort it took for me to be in constant interaction with others all day long.
God has been changing this about me. It started a number of years ago in a spiritual direction session where I was invited by God to board a boat that was filled with other God-worshippers. I didn’t want to get on that boat and I said so. But He lovingly and good-humoredly extended his hand, and I began a journey of gradually letting other people into my life.
It has been a slow process, but I can say that I am beginning to enjoy and even crave the presence of other fellow sojourners. Still a genuine introvert, I find that I begin to get restless with too much time alone. In fact, sometimes when I am in the presence of my church family I get weepy just from the beauty of it all.
The significance of our need for the company of other like-minded people in our lives was illustrated to me recently as I sat quietly with a cup of coffee looking at a small geranium plant on my front porch. I noticed how very many leaves made up the plant, and the one bloom that stood vibrant red against so much green. Somehow I felt there was something important about that observation. It’s been a long time since my biology days, so I had to look up what it is that leaves provide for a plant. And I found that leaves are what process food for the flower to grow. It took a lot of leaves just to sustain that one flowering stalk.
I’ve focused so much of my life on my roots, and that is very important. I know what causes me to behave the way that I do. But roots alone will not a flower make. I need healthy people in my life in order to bloom vibrantly and produce a fragrance that is attractive.
What is the condition of the leaves in your life?