One of the most practical consequences of choosing presence over performance is that you begin to notice and love the specific people God has placed right in front of you.

Discussion Questions

6 questions

1.Niequist writes about the shift from loving people in the abstract — posting about causes, feeling concern for the distant — to loving specific people in specific ways in her actual neighborhood and life. Which kind of love is more natural for you, and why?

2.She reflects on how busyness had made her blind to the people closest to her — neighbors, friends, family members whose needs she was too preoccupied to see. Who on your doorstep — literally or figuratively — might you be missing right now?

3.What would it look like to practice more attentive, particular love toward the people you already have access to? What would change in your actual week?

4.Niequist talks about the way that showing up for the person in front of you — a meal dropped off, a text answered, a porch conversation extended — is its own form of spiritual practice. Have you experienced love in that particular, unhurried form? What did it feel like to give or receive it?

5.There is often a gap between the love we intend (grand gestures, important causes) and the love we actually give (daily faithfulness to specific people). Where is that gap most pronounced in your life?

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