A friend is home from Liberia and seems to be enjoying having small talk with all of us again. How much she missed this "small" thing really got me thinking.
I've often thought very little of the value of small talk, thinking that it's just talking about shallow things. These are the mundane details of our days. In speaking with her and observing others, I began to realize how much community is based on connecting during those times of small talk. It seems to me that without the small talk, the willingness to care about the "mundane" of each other's lives, we cannot move on to deeper levels of trusting and personal conversation.
Small talk is one of the most basic building blocks of relationships, and community within the Body of Christ. Chatting about someone's day or their upcoming week builds relationship. The deeper conversations come... in the church foyer, on a bench at the park, in the gym, with a paint brush in your hand, on the phone during a Bible Quiz match...
We are building trust within relationships. We are learning who is trustworthy and who cares.
I want to clearly communicate how much I care.
Dominique
