Space to Care

On the right is a picture of the crumb of one of my favorite crusty breads, ciabatta.Those huge holes are like caverns to explore and collapse as you eat it, the aftermath of a perfect storm of bubbly yeast, heat and moisture interacting with the dough.

This week I was reminded of how much space we need to clear in our calendars to be caring. And by caring, I mean being available for others in a way that's an unhurried exchange. In yeast breads, flavor and crumb are formed best when there are long rise times. So it is with our appointments.

The nature of community work with Kingdom Causes seems never ending in my mind: there's always another contact, another church, another meeting, another project, another deadline, another grant to pursue. It may be just because it's all new to me, so I haven't fully settled into a rhythm yet. But it can easily feel overwhelming.

Still, this week I've had the chance to have dinner with my neighbors, meet with a friend I haven't met with in awhile, have an extended meeting with KCAMP's intern and a local pastor, and share breakfast (unplanned) with some guys who helped me grab soil from Home Depot for one of the gardens. In each of these meetings, it was unhurried time, an open-ended appointment. No dashing about to the next thing, the next deadline. There was space to care.

I suppose this sort of "scheduling my margins" is a foil for my other job, which is often about efficiency and immediate results. Folding in the space to care will be difficult, even though it's so necessary!