Play-Like

As kids, my brother, cousins and I would "play-like". Sometimes we'd "play-like" we were athletes. Other times we'd be actors on a soap opera. There was a touch of the drama queen in everyone of us.

I got to thinking the other day that "play-like" or pretending wasn't as much a part of my past as the years might contend.

Don't we often pretend that the world thinks as we do, and for those we know don't, well, they're just the minority? Or if we're pretty convinced that we are indeed in the minority regarding an issue, we then pretend that we have the majority of the minority covered.

I know that I "play-like" people are inherently good. In other words, I don't assume that someone I just met is determined to aggravate me or is hiding something from me. I pretend the world is operating on good intentions . . . until I'm proven wrong.

I think that's why the whole online matching services threw me. I believed the profiles. I believed the guys cracking the jokes really were just trying to find someone to got to the movies with or (but even I didn't think this one could be true for that many) walk on the beach with. I thought they wanted quiet dinners or long talks.

And when I discovered that some of the funny ones are also cruel, and some of the smart ones are also perverted, and some of the older ones are just plain boring . . . well, it was disturbing.

This line of thinking crosses over into the church world too, don't you think? We "play-like" we have the answers. Or we "play-like" just showing up is enough. Again, it's somewhat disturbing.

So I'm ready to "play-like" that those guys aren't a cross-section of reality. I'm content to "play-like" there are some decent guys out there who want to talk and actually get to know me. And I'm going to "play-like" my faith is solid.

Let the games begin!