There is a book called The Days My Soul Was Warm (The Education of Little Tree). It is not Christian literature but I am quite fond of this book. The main character of the story is a Native American boy whose name is “Little Tree”. His grandmother and grandfather loved each other very much and showed their affection by saying “I kin ye.”, which means, “I understand you”. For them affection and understanding meant the same thing. One day, Little Tree went to church, and saw a man get very angry, and storm out of the otherwise peaceful choir practice. The boy got curious and asked his grandfather. He said to the boy that the man was in charge of the key to the songbook box, and became mad when the church took away his responsibility. The boy could not understand why he was acting so important over the key to the songbook box. The grandfather told the boy that the man fought all his life to protect what mattered to him but lost it all. So safe keeping the key had greater meaning to him. Without it, he had nothing left to fight for. He never knew anything else. The grandfather was ‘kinning’ the man. Obviously, love and understanding are weaved together. You may still show affection without understanding, but it will be easier to love if we understand each other better. And as our love grows, our understanding deepens as well.
Even though there is nothing better than conversation when it comes to understanding someone, arguments may still break out in between. There seems to be many other ways of getting to understand each other. I guess it differs from person to person. In my case, I don’t remember the details of people I meet. However, there is a certain something that lingers in my memory about them. The feelings I get from them, atmosphere, face, and eyes are such. I take advantage of such pieces of memories when I pray for them. Sometimes when I pray, recollecting their faces and appearance draws out new understandings into their state of mind which was not obvious before. Often a face says more than the words. Additionally, being in their shoes is another good way for understanding. So sometimes, I minic their appearance or accent ^^, and it definitely contributes to understanding their hearts, and makes it easier to love them. It helps me when I pray for them with all my heart. Now is the time for more ‘kin’ no matter how we do it. Prayer filled with love and understanding is what we need to prepare in our hearts. Once we have such hearts, the rest will follow. God said as well that the prerequisite for evangelization is loving hearts. I encourage you to ‘kin’ more.
This week, our brother Kim was held in God’s loving embrace with short notice.The memory of his voice and face are occupying my heart today. Recollecting his kindness, my heart is choked with emotion and filled with regret for not ‘kinning’ him more when he was with us. Now is the time to ‘kin’ the surviving family. I pray we are able to comfort each other’s affliction with love and understanding.
Following the Shepherd
Pastor Jiwon Choi