Do you ever get so caught up in thinking that all people are the same that you just lump people together that have similar views, and write them off. I admit that I have done that in the past couple of months. Someone in particular gave me a bad taste for those that don't think the way I do, and I kind of just started putting everyone with similar views in the same category. It wasn't even something that I was trying to do, or even knew I was doing until the other day. Then I realized that I had closed the door on something because of this lumping that was happening.
We live in a world with so many different views. There are conservative people, liberal people, in between people, those that believe in God, those that don't believe in God, those that preach God with the highest form of volume, and those that softly sing His praises. It is so hard to know and understand exactly where we fit in and how to keep living life without lumping people together.
I never want to be a lumper (yes I realize that's not an actual word). I never want to see people with similar views and just pretend that I know everything about them, because I don't. I don't truly know their hearts, until I sit down and have a conversation with them, even then it isn't for me to judge them. I can try my hardest to speak love and truth.
There are a couple of people (okay more than a couple) in my life that have very different views than I do. We have the most important things in common, but when it comes to some of the nitty gritty that we all feel passionately about we don't see eye to eye at all. About 5 months ago I met someone that couldn't ever be wrong. It was an awful experience one in which I was determined that I could never possibly engage myself with people that didn't have similar thoughts on life, government, politics, and religion as myself. Because this person could never see things from anyone else's viewpoint. That's an awful place to live if you ask me.
God started changing me like He often does. In the past couple of months He has started showing me that maybe some things I think, are not as concrete as I would like them to be, and maybe I don't need to think that every conservative person is as hard-hearted as I thought. Maybe there is a common ground, and maybe I could start opening myself up to that in ways that I had closed myself off before.
When we lump people together we lose out, because we cease to see them as the individual creation that God chose them to be. We instead see them as this big puzzle instead of just seeing the piece that makes up part of the picture. When we lump people together we lose part of the grace and mercy that makes God who He is. When we lump people together we miss out on having them woven into the fabric of our lives.
So, here is to letting in those people that I don't always agree with. Here is to opening up my eyes to learn and grow from those that don't see things the way I do. Here is to breaking down walls, and not lumping everyone in the same category because categories aren't what defines us. Here is to leaving behind preconceived notions and opening up to new experiences and risks.
Embracing the unexpected....
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