Listening Eyes

 I sometimes hear people counsel or advise others how to act by quoting words from their instruction books, such as the Bible or Big Book, or Koran.  But people don’t listen with their ears.  They listen with their eyes.  It is not what you pontificate that will help another, especially a newcomer to the scene.  It is your actions that they see you doing that will make a difference.  A lot of people reject worship groups in religions not because the visitor rejects what is said.  It is the hypocrisy that they see that sends them searching elsewhere.  You cannot say, “All are welcome,” and then ignore the newcomer, or someone who does not look and act much like yourself.  The shortcomings of zoom meetings is that the newcomer on the computer hears words but does not see actions of the video faces.  Zoom has its place but can never replace in person gatherings.