#JESUS2020 - Daily DevotionalsSample

Traditionally, we had carp on New Year's Eve. It was bought alive and kept in the bathtub. For my brother and me, it was an ideal playmate. I imagine the situation with the lamb to have been similar, as it was kept separately for several days. Suddenly the lamb in the big herd becomes a single animal to which you build a bond. Maybe the children gave it a name and played with it just like I used to do with the annual New Year's Eve carp.

No matter whether an animal or a new person comes into a family, in a community you get to know each other and build relationships with each other. The lamb at least notices a little bit what is going on in the family at that moment. Is a marital row in the air or is a teenager floating on cloud nine as he mucks out the stable as he is in love? Of course, it is clear to everyone that the lamb will be slaughtered for a feast in a few days and is only a temporary guest. It was similar when we were children as we kept a certain distance to our playmate "Karpfi".

ACTION STEP:

But what about you? You also meet strangers regularly. Some people are closer to you than others and join you on a part of your path in life. Maybe in church, at work or in the supermarket? How do you manage to maintain a balanced degree of closeness and distance? Where are you open to give others a little insight into your life and where do you have good reasons for keeping personal boundaries? Now, pray that God will give you the wisdom today to find the right balance. Who knows, maybe there is a friend hidden among the strangers whom you do not know yet.

André Schönfeld, ICF Berlin