My Take on a Sensitive Subject

I'm seeing a lot of rainbow'd pictures coming across my Facebook newsfeed in support of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision made this week. I choose not to rainbow mine. I choose, instead to show love to those in my life, near and far regardless of race, creed, or orientation. When it comes down to the end of it, all of us individually are responsible only for our own choices. It is not my place to tell someone else what they do is morally or Biblically wrong...because their life is not my life, just as mine is not theirs. I choose to love, respect, and honor all those I call friends & family, because I believe that's the ultimate show of support. I must give out what I'd like to get back. Too often, those of us who call ourselves "Christians" define Christianity by our own standards...not by what the Bible says. Or we twist what it says to fit those same standards. We can't continuously spew hate out one side of our mouths, and expect others to believe it when we speak words of love out the other. It's taken me a long time to realize that GOD...is bigger than any of our petty hatreds. That He calls us to love, and to show His love to others, not ram what we believe to be "God's Rules" down the throats of those who don't look or act like us. When we question others' lifestyle, life choices, or anything like that, we set ourselves up as judge & jury. That's not what we're called to, folks. When I concentrate on what *I* deem as 'wrong' in someone else's life...all that does is take my focus off of the problem areas in my own life. (The following is for those raised in the church...)
Remember the woman caught in adultery? By that day's societal standards, she should have been stoned...to death. Yet, even as her accusers stood, rocks in hand, Jesus simply said..."he who is without sin...cast the first stone." Out of a group of people, not one of them could cast a stone. They dropped them and walked away... without a word!  Jesus didn't go on to condemn her either... He just loved her. Other people's hatred (& feelings of moral superiority) would have literally killed her! We need to remember that God hates all sin...not just ones we choose as 'the most vile'. And if you're going to go by a strict old testament, biblical code, talking about someone behind their back, and assassinating their character is sin. Telling a little white lie is sin. Divorce is sin. Gluttony is a sin. Cheating, stealing, and coveting...all sins. Those little things you think no one knows you do...that's sin, and God sees it all. We humans tend to assign degrees to sin making some worse than others, but God doesn't have degrees. It's all the same to Him... sin is anything that separates us from Him. I'm not setting myself up as anyone's judge or jury. I'm reminding myself, right along with anyone else reading this who believes they live by Biblical standards. All have sinned. All fall short of God's glory. Christ died for all mankind, not just those who fit in to one group or another because of shared beliefs, lifestyles, or doctrines. No one person, denomination, or idea has the absolute corner on truth. Until we can truthfully say we're perfect, we should not be condemning anyone else.

There Was A Day

There was a day she realized what she wanted, and that what she wanted while some might find it old fashioned, outdated, or just plain silly, was still a good thing. There was a moment she understood that she was totally capable of being alone, of living on her own, doing things alone...but that for her specifically, this was not how it was supposed to be. She understood that the yearning she felt deep within was a good thing...that her spirit called out not because it was incomplete, but because she has so much to share.
What she wants is what she feels society scoffs at these days. One man, one woman, in a monogamous relationship that is bound by law. How completely outdated, right? WRONG! She does not desire something that is wrong, or even bad for her. She just desires something that is out of fashion these days. The yearning comes in when she sees that according to societal standards, she's lacking in surface areas. She's overweight. She never got a college degree. And, she looks at the possibility of love, as opposed to laughing at the entire concept.
She is competent. Smart. And so very tired of wasting moments she feels she could and should be sharing. Yet still, she waits. She anticipates. And on nights like this, she wonders. Does she hope in vain? Will it ever happen? She finds that her only job is to be ready for it to happen. And in the interim, live her life day by day, changing, growing, and always becoming more of what that one man will find irresistible...herself.