In our staff devotions the other morning one of my colleagues spoke about the “boxes” we place people in. Stereotyping and pre-judging can be an easier, but shallow way, of dealing with people rather than getting to know and relate with them properly.
This made me reflect as a father of six daughters. People often assume that two parents having six children of the same sex must mean they are like peas in a pod. First of all, from an appearance point of view, that is way off the mark and from a personality perspective even more so. Yes, you can see similarities between one and an another but ultimately they are all very different and individual people. You can see parental influences but, once again, they reveal themselves in a variety of wonderful ( and sometimes not so wonderful) combinations.
The oldest is a chemistry researcher at a university with a passion for art. (Shameless plug: her blog on art can be found at – http://netistok.wordpress.com/). Another is a bio-medical engineer who likes history. And still another is a very creative Maths/Science teacher. (No, this is not an oxymoron!) I’ll leave the second three for another, future, post.
Each is unique and individual. If that is true within a family how much more so in our general society. We are unique. Gen 1:27, Psalm 139:14, Mat 6:26 all remind us that God has shaped each one of us into a special person as part of His human mosaic. It is then our responsibility to treat each other in the same way – as special creations of God. The highpoint of that expression is, of course, Jesus Christ. For a person to grow in and know their uniqueness, a relationship with Christ is essential. After all, that is whom the Holy Spirit is growing within us.
Travels from Ur 