Last month from "Our Daily Bread" there were two separate stories which yielded one lesson for me. If you read it just like me you would probably remember metaphors like comparing a Bison's neck w/c is designed to look down as it eats to a person who "focuses on the details"; A Giraffe's long sleek neck w/c always tends to look up is compared to a person who can see "the bigger picture". Another story is about the excitement of a British couple in welcoming their child whom they longed for after many years of marriage, & called for a prayer of wisdom after they learned that the child has down syndrome. The man when mocked "So this was the child given to you!" replied "I am glad the Lord has given this child to me instead of you!" gave a UNIQUE response. That's the lesson I learned! We are all made unique, one of a kind, fashioned by God to be part of a whole. Each though born different is valued & important in God's eyes and so should they be in others eyes.
But that does not happen that way most of the time, doesn't it. Because as we are all dissimilar like the Bison & the Giraffe we look at people & situations differently, too. So what should we do? When it's so hard to readily accept people when they are stereotyped or labeled in a certain way. Do we have to wait to be in their shoes & be them to be able to understand what they are going through? A little patience, a short conversation, a little time to get to know them might help us gradually accept that they exist & they have as much right to live & be here just like you do.
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