Up in smoke

My mega-church small group girls got together last night, just to have some girl time and not have to talk about Captivating. I really like talking to these girls—they’re a group of girlie girls who like Pilates, and clothes, and dancing. It’s easy to feel comfortable around them.

The evening was relaxing, moving along smoothly, munching salsa dip and nearly emptying their glass of Pinot Noir. So, you can imagine my utter shock when most everyone said yes to a second glass of wine and bumming a smoke off the hostess. I about fell over. Everyone wanted to smoke except for the pregnant girl. And she was lamenting not being able to smoke cloves anymore. Huh?! If these girls were plopped down in California, I wonder if they would be smoking? They’re social smokers, not chain smokers. But still. I just haven’t met any young church girls who smoke since college.

My first thought after the night was over was the irony—all the conservative girls who don’t drink or smoke are back in California (fightin’ off those crazy liberals!). And then my second thought was Maybe I’m one of those Christians who don’t like to hang out with “the sinners.” Am I? I wonder if I was judging those girls just because they were smoking. I mean, the same girls who were smoking were the ones who go to bars and sleep with their boyfriends (and this is not an assumption, it’s a fact straight from the horses’ mouth). Was I assuming I was better than them because I don’t enjoy doing those things? But I don’t see anything wrong--morally anyway--with have a glass of wine and smoking a clove. (I’d like to admit how much I enjoyed my own glass of wine.) The situation just made me feel uncomfortable. Totally out of my comfort zone. And then it made me think how much I probably live in a bubble and need to get out of my comfort zone every once in a while. And that it might be a good idea to “hang out with the sinners” and take the speck out of my own eye. I’ll probably never get around to doing that, but it’s a noble thought.