When people ask if I have exciting plans for the weekend, I say, “I’m working.” On Mondays, if people ask if I had a good weekend, I say, “I was working.” Because almost every Sunday for the last seven years I’ve been working at the hospital. Before that, for the previous fifteen years, I’d worked at least part of every Sunday, too. I worked at a church, not preaching, but working. This is what I do.

We have, I think, pictures in our heads of weekends and work weeks. And for a majority of people, those pictures are not accurate. People are trying to find jobs. People are working three jobs. People work Saturday and Sunday. People work overnight. People work in and out of buildings, people work all the time and don’t get paid. People are older than sixty-five and are working for pay or not for pay.

As humans, we look for conversation starters. In the US at least, those conversation starters include work, jobs, income, and desired breaks from work. At any given moment with any given person, what seems like a simple question can be a reminder of frustration, fear, exhaustion. The explanation may be too hard to give, the story too long to tell.

Unless, of course, you actually want to know.

Over the weekend, I included these words of Paul in a wedding I led: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

It’s a reminder that even in our conversation starters, we have the opportunity to lead with compassion, kindness, humility, and gentleness. We can ask about the best thing that’s happened in the last day or two.

I was going to make up other samples. I realized that question, and a willingness to listen, could be enough.

So I’ll ask you: what’s the best thing that’s happened in the last day or two?