the highest form of flattery

today's post is brought to you by curtis' blog - which was brought to his readers by frederick buechner. in describing a man who was influential in his life, buechner writes this: "... somehow or other he managed to have all of himself present in everything I ever heard him say or saw him do. You always came upon him whole, and when he gave you his attention, the gift was complete ... No matter how briefly you saw him, he left you with the feeling that you had genuinely met." 


that is the kind of person i want to be. we spend a lot of time in my spiritual direction class talking about being present in the moment... being wholly present to the other person. our lives are built to prevent this gift of attention, though. there is always a distraction... tv, text, email, et al... and finding someone who you can always "come upon whole" is rare, to say the least. 

i want to learn to be like this.