Research conducted some years ago found that the average person will meet 2.8 new people per day, meaning that at the end of a normal lifespan we will have crossed paths with some 80 000 people! If you're an introvert, looking at that figure might require you to sit down and take a few deep breaths :)
I heard an interview with author Tommy Spaulding recently where he said that he likes to imagine that all 80 000 of those people will be gathered together in a stadium at the end of our lives and we will have a chance to say goodbye. He asks himself what the stadium will sound like - will there be cheering, or silence - reflecting the impact we had on the people we met?
It's quite a dramatic picture, but maybe too much to take in! More helpful is to think about the daily opportunities we have - the 2.8 people we will meet and influence in some way every day. Rev Adam Hamilton says that they regularly remind each other in his church in Kansas to pay attention in each encounter with another person - often an unguarded facial expression or a throwaway remark can point to an opportunity for kindness or service. That sounds a lot like the adventure we spoke about in our Ascension Day service this week - a partnership with God that begins each day with the question "what are we doing today, Lord?"