Gentle Reader,
I shouldn’t be shocked by how much sleep I need. I shouldn’t be surprised by how long I can sleep. A nap is no less than two hours, and a moderately decent night’s rest is 12 hours. (No, I’m not joking). Sleep has been both dear friend and annoying enemy to me for years now, yet there are still weeks when I’m left nearly-amazed at how many minutes I spend with my eyes closed.
Anyway, Kate says: how.
Go.
How is it that we’re still unable to appreciate each other’s unique gifts and perspectives and talents?
I’ve been pondering this in relation to all of the upheaval we are collectively experiencing. While I do believe in objective facts and truth, I also believe that the way in which each of us processes those facts and truths is unique to us. Some need a lot of time and space to think. Some respond by feeling deeply and expressing those feelings immediately. Some need to talk it all out, throwing half-formed ideas into the air. Some require privacy. There are as many variations, a spectrum of sorts.
Again, I believe that there is such a thing as right and wrong. I believe there is good and evil. And I definitely believe that we, the Church, the people of God, have got our priorities out of whack, and this is being publicly revealed, almost as if the Holy Spirit is shining a brilliant spotlight into the darkest corners, the ones we’d rather ignore and never deal with.
So, yes, there are standards. This is obvious when it comes to issues of nationalism, insisting upon certain political affiliation/philosophy as a sign of “true faith,” and racism. The “other” is the enemy. Simply, we must repent and unlearn unChristlike habits of feeling, thinking, and living.
But there are other ways in which our discomfort with each other is shown. Less blatant. Less easily classified as sin. And that’s got me asking: How? Or maybe, why? When a person possesses a talent that we wish we had… When someone else is immediately good at something that we can’t seem to master… When you’re in a position of authority and another asks a question that reveals something you missed...
I wonder if we’re ultimately just not comfortable with ourselves. Unaccepting of ourselves. Unconvinced that God made us, and loves us, and that we have a purpose and role. Unbelieving that we are really are equal. Maybe the passive-aggressive moves, the stonewalling, the snide comments, the stealing credit from others…maybe it’s more about us than it is them.
And how can that be? How is that we trust God so little?
I suppose the answer to that, the way to address the less-blatant sins, is the same: Simply, we must repent and unlearn unChristlike habits of feeling, thinking, and living.
Lord, may it begin with me.
Stop.