Day 18

"What do you do?"

It's usually one of the first questions we ask of someone we've just met. It's not unthinkable that knowing someone's 'work' will tell us something about them. However, we'd learn a great deal more about them, if we knew whether they found their work fulfilling, meaningful and life-giving or not.


As I talk with different people, it seems very few 'enjoy' chit-chatting or exchanging superficial pleasantries. Yet, everyone realizes how difficult, if not odd, it would be to dive into deep meaningful conversations with strangers. There are those who can somehow ask the right questions in the most relaxed way.


I often think of a dear friend who could engage complete strangers in meaningful conversations in a matter of minutes. A telemarketer would call, but we would never have guessed by the 20 minute conversation: "Do you they pay you by phone call or commission?.... I'm sure you get alot of rejection. Does that make it hard to do your job?... You probably get to talk to some pretty interesting people though, huh?..."

She was famous for playing what we called the "Mennonite Name Game." Introduced to a Graber, a Weins or a Yoder, she would spend 30 minutes trying to find out what Mennonites they were related to, even if they weren't. It was because she was Mennonite, but she happened to go to a Mennonite College.

Checking out at the grocery store, she would take great interest in the cashier's hair. With admiration, if not envy, she'd launch into an atypical conversation: "How do you get your hair to stand up like that? Do you use hairspray or gel? Are you growing it out?"

Instead of odd looks or embarrassment, these strangers often eased into the conversation as if they'd been old friends. It wasn't the questions she chose, but that she was truly interested in who these people were, how they moved through the world and how they felt about their lives.

"What do you do?" isn't such a bad question, but it's a real gift when someone is truly interested in finding out 'who are you?'

In your encounters with strangers today, may you be blessed by one who wants to know who you are, and may you bless others as you move beyond the question, "what do you do?"