Diversity

I haven't been very active here, have I? 

 I didn't really have anything to talk about.  Maybe I have the back to school blues.  Maybe I have the "oh no winter is going to come" depression, or maybe, I just haven't been moved to write. 

I think a million times about blogs to write.  I wish when I had the thoughts I could drop everything and hop to my computer and write my brilliant words.  Haha.  But often they come and go. 

Today, I've been thinking a lot about how we separate ourselves.  Labels.  Brainy.  Popular.  Beautiful.  Ugly.  Mean.  Naive.  White.  Black.  Good.  Bad.  Friendly.  Lutheran.  Baptist. 

Not all labels are bad.  But it seems to me that labels have really limited us. Do we label ourselves?  Do we let others label us?  We do.  But what difference does it make what I think on labels?  Not much, except how I can help reach out and help someone regardless of their label or my own.  The only label you should accept and wear is the one God gives you.  And I guarantee you, he thinks you're lovely.  He thinks you are enough.  He thinks you have unlimited potential with Him by your side.  He doesn't just think this, He knows it.

Jesus speaks to us in the bible about diversity.  I strongly suggest reading 1 Corinthians 12 in it's entirety.  But for the purpose of this blog, I'll only be sharing parts. 

The words of God share this point more eloquently than I ever could. (1 Cor 12:12-14 and 24b-31)

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many....(vs 24 b)But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

That is a label I can live with..."Hi, I'm Trisha and I am a part of the body of Christ. " I like how that sounds. 

I've been a student of the bible since before I can remember, mainly because I had to...I had to at church, I had to at school, but I felt imprisoned by a moral code I couldn't live up to.  I was told either verbally or by action that I failed, that I couldn't be good.  My life as a checklist Christian was miserable.  Go to church, check.  Pray before eating, check.  Memorize bible verses, check.  And when I failed, no one pointed out mercy to me.  In truth, maybe someone tried, I was probably already starting my rebellion period.  Which if I am honest, I still rebel at times.  What did it take to get me back to a real stance, a real relationship with God?

The death of my daughter.  I was pissed.  I was hurt.  I felt like I was being punished.  I felt like my whole life was crumbling.  And boy did I let it rip at God.  I said things to him that should send me straight to hell, and should have in the instant I said them. 

But do you know what he did?  He held me while I raged, He held me while I cried, He held me when I didn't have the strength to hold myself up.  Because He loves me.  Because His way is peaceful beyond any worldly understanding.  He did not say to me that I don't know what I am talking about, He didn't tell me that there is a procedure to follow, He didn't tell me that I was bad or hateful or wrong.   And He could have.  But He chooses to bring us to him by love.  Yes, love has discipline and consequences.  I've had both.  But it isn't shaming.  It isn't hurtful.  Painful, maybe.  But it is painful to realize we have done wrong, that we have hurt others.  It is painful (for me anyway) to admit when I am wrong.  It's painful to be vulnerable and ask others for forgiveness when we confess our sins against them. 

I didn't really see the blog going this way today, but apparently He had other plans.  I am not saying that we should accept things that are not the truth, not all paths lead to God, everyone isn't right, but what I am saying is we are set apart by the LOVE of God, so let that be what I show the world.  His Love. 

Today, no matter what your beliefs, I pray that you try and live the following words,  And I also pray that something I have said, say or will say, will one day bring you to our own relationship with God. 
^"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. "  Ephesians 4: 2-3