Are You a Clanging Cymbal?

1 Corinthians 13:1

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

I think John Maxwell said it best in his book Winning with People; "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."  Over the years I have realized how true this statement is. Not just how I view other people but how they view me. You can be the smartest person alive but unless I know you genuinely care for or about me and my well being I don't care about what you have to say.  I know that sounds harsh, but the same is true when you turn the statement around. If you don't think I care about your well being or you personally then you are not going to care about what I have to say either. There are several people who read this blog that I have never met and will likely never meet in my life time. But I write these blogs to help me and hopefully bless others who might be facing the same or similar situations in life.

Here's the funny thing about me, if you know me you would think that I am an extrovert and you would be right. I love being around people, I love people watching, I love being with my people... I'm not so good however with groups of people I don't know. I'm not good around people who are not my people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not rude. It just takes me a while to warm up to people and let them into my life so to speak.  I'm afraid this comes off as standoffish at times.

For example one weekend our senior pastor walked down to the 2 year old department to say hello to his grandchild. While he was there he talked to the volunteers in the room.  The Nursery director at the time came up after our pastor left and talked to the volunteers about how exciting it was to have the senior pastor come and talk to them. There response surprised me. They said that it was nice but that they would rather have me, the children's pastor, stop by and talk to them.  You see I always went by and talked to the kids in the classrooms, but rarely engaged the volunteers in conversation, thus making them feel unappreciated or unloved.  You see they didn't care how much I knew about Children's Ministry or anything else for that matter because I wasn't showing them love. I still go around to the different classrooms and talk with the kids, but now I am more aware of taking the time to talk with the volunteers in the rooms. I'm not fake about it, I am very grateful they are there and want to know more about each of them.

How are you doing with the people around you - are you a clanging cymbal, or are you showing genuine love?