We're All God's Little Snowflakes...
I spend much of my day trafficking in ideas.
Which means I read a lot and think about what I read a lot. Primarily, that's the Bible. Sometimes it's books that other folks wrote about what I read. Sometimes it's e-mails that include thoughts about what I said. Sometimes it's discussions about what we're all reading or what was said from the pulpit Sunday. But make no mistake. I spend a lot of time with ideas.
One idea that was I was kicking around yesterday was about how we're all wired differently. I'm teaching a class and one section of the curriculum is the role of "community" in the spiritual growth of a Christian. You know. What that "looks" like and how that "plays out."
What started it was a discussion in the office on what would be the drawing card that would cause someone to be interested in taking (or not taking) particular class. Would it be the title? The teacher? The course description? If it were gender-specific? The cost? If friends were taking it with you? The brochure? The targeted age-range of the class? Yeah. All that stuff.
It was interesting how two people could look at the same title/description of a class and one person be immediately drawn to it and excited about taking such a class, and someone else be immediately turned off by what excited the other person so much. Then the conversation turned to a video that I showed in church on Sunday that Nathan edited into a series of movie clips with prayers...some serious (like a scene from Dead Man Walking) and some silly (like from Talledega Nights). Some people "got it." Some people said it "really got me thinking." Some people thought it was "awesome how you used that in Big Church!" Other people thought it "might have a place in a classroom setting but I'm not so sure you should do things like that in church services."
That's what highlighted to me the very thing I'd taught in my class last week.
See, if you're a Christ-follower (look at me being all relevant and with-it) you've been given a spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit to use for the building up of the folks around you. The Holy Spirit doles them out.
Beyond that, we all have what I like to call "wiring." We're all wired/designed by God a certain way with certain interests and, well, just stuff that we can't explain. Sure, some of it's upbringing and environment, too. But there's some things that are just "wired" into our fiber.
Like the things we care about, for example. My friend L.J. has a compassion for the people of Haiti. My friends Mish & Steve supported a cause regarding the "Invisible Children" who were being recruited to fight in Uganda's military. My friend Katherine has a deep love for teenage girls and how tough it is to be a girl in our culture. I could go on and on all day. I don't know why we all care about the things we care about. We're just wired that way.
Like the abilities we all have. Some people have a knack for athletics. Some for music. Some for art. Some for plumbing. Some for auto mechanics. Computers. Accounting. Math. Writing. I don't know where they come from I just know that we're wired for different things.
Like our personalities. I have no idea why I think certain things are funny and why other people don't think so. I have no idea why my brain short-circuits in the best ways when good punk or grunge music pops on, or why my spine reacts like fingernails on a chalkboard to country music. I don't know why some people cry if a cartoon character dies and others don't cry at the death of their parents. I have no idea why I like to sit and chat with folks and others prefer the quiet of being alone in their room or even prefer being on a stage in front of a lot of others. Or why some people are so animated or some not so much. And often, these diametrically opposed personalities come from the same household and born about a year apart. They're just wired that way, I think.
And I do think our life experiences enhance all those other wirings. So, if I grew up in the rural Deep South and my personality is extroverted and I'm awesome at math and I care about the plight of the homeless, well, it might come across a little differently to others if the same type person grew up in, say, Manhattan and came from a broken home, well, that plays affects our wiring.
Sometimes, as Christ-followers (okay, the attempt at relevance and with-itness just went overboard) we gather in affinity groups to the exclusion of the wonder of those that are different from us.
When we do that, we miss the true beauty of the Body of Christ: That we're all "one" yet with "different wiring."
So, today, I think I'm going to focus on that little niche of information. I once heard a minority pastor speaking to a suburban audience make the comment, "Either we're all God's children or we're all just living a lie." I liked it then. I like it now.
And I'll make a conscious effort to enjoy those differently wired and their different wirings. And say a little prayer of thanks for the creative, wonderful wiring of those who are different than me...because God made them to be that very thing.
I spend much of my day trafficking in ideas.
Which means I read a lot and think about what I read a lot. Primarily, that's the Bible. Sometimes it's books that other folks wrote about what I read. Sometimes it's e-mails that include thoughts about what I said. Sometimes it's discussions about what we're all reading or what was said from the pulpit Sunday. But make no mistake. I spend a lot of time with ideas.
One idea that was I was kicking around yesterday was about how we're all wired differently. I'm teaching a class and one section of the curriculum is the role of "community" in the spiritual growth of a Christian. You know. What that "looks" like and how that "plays out."
What started it was a discussion in the office on what would be the drawing card that would cause someone to be interested in taking (or not taking) particular class. Would it be the title? The teacher? The course description? If it were gender-specific? The cost? If friends were taking it with you? The brochure? The targeted age-range of the class? Yeah. All that stuff.
It was interesting how two people could look at the same title/description of a class and one person be immediately drawn to it and excited about taking such a class, and someone else be immediately turned off by what excited the other person so much. Then the conversation turned to a video that I showed in church on Sunday that Nathan edited into a series of movie clips with prayers...some serious (like a scene from Dead Man Walking) and some silly (like from Talledega Nights). Some people "got it." Some people said it "really got me thinking." Some people thought it was "awesome how you used that in Big Church!" Other people thought it "might have a place in a classroom setting but I'm not so sure you should do things like that in church services."
That's what highlighted to me the very thing I'd taught in my class last week.
See, if you're a Christ-follower (look at me being all relevant and with-it) you've been given a spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit to use for the building up of the folks around you. The Holy Spirit doles them out.
Beyond that, we all have what I like to call "wiring." We're all wired/designed by God a certain way with certain interests and, well, just stuff that we can't explain. Sure, some of it's upbringing and environment, too. But there's some things that are just "wired" into our fiber.
Like the things we care about, for example. My friend L.J. has a compassion for the people of Haiti. My friends Mish & Steve supported a cause regarding the "Invisible Children" who were being recruited to fight in Uganda's military. My friend Katherine has a deep love for teenage girls and how tough it is to be a girl in our culture. I could go on and on all day. I don't know why we all care about the things we care about. We're just wired that way.
Like the abilities we all have. Some people have a knack for athletics. Some for music. Some for art. Some for plumbing. Some for auto mechanics. Computers. Accounting. Math. Writing. I don't know where they come from I just know that we're wired for different things.
Like our personalities. I have no idea why I think certain things are funny and why other people don't think so. I have no idea why my brain short-circuits in the best ways when good punk or grunge music pops on, or why my spine reacts like fingernails on a chalkboard to country music. I don't know why some people cry if a cartoon character dies and others don't cry at the death of their parents. I have no idea why I like to sit and chat with folks and others prefer the quiet of being alone in their room or even prefer being on a stage in front of a lot of others. Or why some people are so animated or some not so much. And often, these diametrically opposed personalities come from the same household and born about a year apart. They're just wired that way, I think.
And I do think our life experiences enhance all those other wirings. So, if I grew up in the rural Deep South and my personality is extroverted and I'm awesome at math and I care about the plight of the homeless, well, it might come across a little differently to others if the same type person grew up in, say, Manhattan and came from a broken home, well, that plays affects our wiring.
Sometimes, as Christ-followers (okay, the attempt at relevance and with-itness just went overboard) we gather in affinity groups to the exclusion of the wonder of those that are different from us.
When we do that, we miss the true beauty of the Body of Christ: That we're all "one" yet with "different wiring."
So, today, I think I'm going to focus on that little niche of information. I once heard a minority pastor speaking to a suburban audience make the comment, "Either we're all God's children or we're all just living a lie." I liked it then. I like it now.
And I'll make a conscious effort to enjoy those differently wired and their different wirings. And say a little prayer of thanks for the creative, wonderful wiring of those who are different than me...because God made them to be that very thing.
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