Open Circles (with Guardrails) By Sherrie Buscemi

May 8, 2026, 3 Min Read

Last year the hubs and I traveled across the U.S. on an Amtrak rail pass. We rode 10 segments in 30 days, on 6 different trains—three of them twice—from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

When we welcomed others into our circle on the Floridian train, we made a lasting connection with a missionary from the Amazon region of Peru and exchanged contact information.

But on the Empire Builder, the dining car host assigned a drunkard to our booth, a man determined to get wasted during the meal as he tried to involve us in his gambling schemes.

Prudence!

Prudence called for us to guard our circle in that situation.

It takes wisdom to know when to test, open, or close doors in terms of relationships. Although we need guardrails, we also need to share the road of our lives in a healthy way. I suspect far too many of us have been shut out of friendships, especially churches, by closed circles. Not because of guardrails, but because of unintentional cliques.

We’ll talk more about that in the future.

EDITOR’S PRACTICAL TIP:

While it would be groovy if we could all travel together on Amtrak, there’s a simpler way to open a new circle. Just take a walk around the block!

When I put my feet on the concrete enough times in my neighborhood, I met new people – and new dogs (a love of my life). Some were fellow walkers, some “hi” neighbors, and others “stop and talk” ones – an invitation I always accept (of course, with guardrails).