Living our Witness

In his book, Reading the Signs, From Empty nets to Full Lives, Dr. Ellsworth Kalas writes:
      Most of our witnessing is likely to happen in passing moments of conversation
      those occasions when we show, in relatively minor ways, who we are and             
      to whom we belong.  I am thinking of a surburban woman who was playing
      tennis with her good but quite secular friends.  In a conversation break between
      sets she began referring to something she had read that morning.  It would
      have been easy to say, "I read somthing this morning."  Instead, with no attempt
      at piosity, she simply introduced one word:  "in my devotional reading this
      morning."  It was not a major soul-winning engagement.  It was, however, a true
      sowing of seed.  By a word, she had opened the door for some future
      conversation.

Dr. Kalas notes that our greatest hindrance in witnessing is that we are not sensitive and intentional enough to make use of the ordinary, small, seemingly insignificant occasions to witness in a natural, significant way.  We don't have to say someting dramatic or life-shaking to make a difference in people's lives and faith journeys.

Dr. Kalas goes on to say that we are immersed in waters of human need and we dont seem to act like we know it.  He writes:
      The issue is not we should become more aggressive about sharing our faith.
      It is that we should be more sensitive to the needs of the world around us,
      and more sensitive to the subtle proddings of the Holy Spirit....To be sensitive to
      the Holy Spirit must mean that we will be more sensitive to people and
      their pain; to be more sensitive to people ought to make us more open to God
      and his purposes.

I like how Dr. Kalas describes the work of witnessing.  Sharing our faith is simple, profoundly ordinary ways encourages us to be authentic, open, and very human.
My journey could use the ordinary spice Dr. Kalas suggests.  How about your's?