I love to walk outside and see the beauty of creation all around me. One of the places I walk the most is around my neighborhood. When I first moved into the neighborhood I could only find one house that looked like mine. I remember thinking that it was strange to find in a large neighborhood just two houses that were the same.
At that time I did notice that the other house had a two car garage as compared to our three car one and that the garage doors faced the other direction, but thought nothing of it. As I continued to walk and expand my route, I still did not notice any other houses that looked like mine. But one day God opened my eyes…
I began to see that even though this one had a brick front, (which mine did not) or that one was a different color than mine, those houses were the same model as mine. I began to see models where the driveway was right in front of the front door as compared to mine which is on the side of the house. I saw a house which had a window in the bathroom that was a different shape than the one in my house.
As I am writing this I have realized that if someone walked around the neighborhood and looked at my own house that they would notice an additional window than what is in their own.
So why share this with you?
God began to reveal to me that we are kind of like the houses. We expect to find people who believe exactly like us. We expect others to think or react like we do. We tend to look for friends or want to socialize with those who think like us more than we do those who are different.
We will sometimes only hang out with someone because the qualities that we see in them remind us of us. As I walked through my neighborhood and continued to see houses that were the same model as my own that I had not noticed before, God continued to show me that we as His people are like those houses.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we all have the same foundation, Him. How that looks or comes across to those around us will be different.
As a mother of four children I can testify that no two of them are alike. Yes, they may have some similar likes and dislikes but they all have unique life experiences and personalities through which they process and respond to situations. Are we as God’s children any different?
He is a good, good Father and gives us the best gifts. We may find others who walk in gifts that are similar to our own but just as even the first house I saw, there will be differences because He created us all different.
I want to celebrate what God is doing not only in my own life but in the lives of others. Instead of criticizing others because they don’t respond to something like we would, let’s celebrate what God is doing in their lives.
Is someone drawing closer to Him, are they sharing their faith with others, are they building others up in Christ and encouraging them in their faith, are they…? May God begin to open our eyes to see that even though someone may not react or respond to another like we would, it’s okay.
It was actually encouraging to me when I began to see other houses that looked like mine. I think it was encouraging not because I wanted there to be other houses like mine but because God wants us to encourage, comfort and edify one another no matter what differences we see. He wants us to be one in Him, united not divided.
Blessings to all!