Relationships

Today was about relating to different people. At the center there are many personalities. It is important for me to keep my own personality but at the same time I must often conform in little ways to others' personalities. When I am with Steve we have very much a friendly working relationship. We talk, share ideas, discuss situations, etc. always as would two brothers. This is kind of funny because Steve reminds me of my twin brother Dave. Maybe we can get into that later. When I work with Tyrone I try to feed off his passion and emotion. I only offer a small amount of what I bring to the table, and so far this has been working quite well. Tyrone and I get things done when we work together because we both respect our differences. When I am dealing with others in the organization, especially those is higher positions such as Phillip, I am much more inclined to be more formal. This may be normal for some, but coming from the Center it is often a little bit of a change.
I know that none of this is new discovery. By the time we are leaving college and joining organizations I hope we have all learned to offer what we know we are good at and to get help where we need it. We are working in a give and take system in which we should utilize our strengths and look to have our weaknesses subsidized.
The whole reason I bring this up is becuase Steve and I were discussing our relationship to Jesus today. We all have our own relationship to Jesus. It can be no other way. We were all born in different places in different times to different parents with different colors of skin who raised us differently. And we have all had different experiences in life. This also is not a new discovery, but I feel it is important to be conscious of how things work. There are many religions because throughout time different people, groups of people and cultures found different paths to salvation. I accept the way Steve relates to Jesus and the way Tyrone relates to Jesus and hopefully we all accept and understand our unique "Ways to the One."
The Center provides a concrete example of people who are different - in all the ways mentioned above and more. And I feel that we are moving in the right direction with the way that we all relate to each other, workers and clients alike. We all have our relationship with Jesus, and that can be our salvation, but we must remember that when we feed the poor we are feeding Jesus, when we clothe the naked we are clothing Jesus, when we offer a hand to another we offer it to Jesus. This is what we do at the Center.