My computer tells me that Ingestion is “to take in and absorb.” The other day I read that someone had complained that a book was just full of words. Equally so, a church is just full of people or a grocery store is just full of food.
BUT,…when the words in a book are absorbed, when the groceries are absorbed and when the people in the church are personified and become real to you…what a difference that all makes.
Sometimes we are such “surface” people that we almost lose what could be to others.
I recently spoke to a man up the street. He was doing some gardening and I, ever drawn to the beauty of flowers could not resist commenting on how lovely they were.
A small chat revealed that he had been in World War II and served in the Italy Campaign. So had my brother and we spoke briefly about it. I must make time to chat at length about it with him…veterans like to do that. I could tell him about the brown coloured fold-up airmail letters I sent to my brother and how his war wounds changed his life and he died in a Military Hospital. I think we have lots to share.
He is no longer a man up the street…he is Bill, who was in the war with my brother. Absorbing that tiny shred of shared information has changed our relationship.
We ran a Grocery store for years. I have dusted more cans of soup than I can count and placed loaves of bread on never ending shelves. The soup could be saved but day old bread is often not sold (even when discounted). If it is not ingested it becomes useless. In those days there were no Food Banks and often it was used for feeding some farm animals.
And yes, a church is just filled with people but oh what stories they have to tell and oh what lives they have lived. There is nothing more rewarding than the association with a Christian friend. You lives can be so enriched by knowing them. So few people take advantage of that and it is a shame.
Your business friends and social friends will eventually pass away…their place in your life style will end but those tried and true Christian friends are a reflection of God’s love and become dearer every day. They become ingested into your very being and become part of your life story.
I hope you have had the joy of those kinds of friends…if not, cultivate those friendships. They will become a special part of you and you will find your soul filled with gratitude.
