The past few mornings, Miss Sophie has arisen a little earlier than usual. I don’t know how to figure it, but I keep blaming it on the time change. Why not? It’s an easy target and everyone else is doing it, right?
So she and I walk in the quiet morning air, breathing deeply as she takes her morning constitutional, tending to her business as she does. Some mornings she draws it out more than others. This morning was quite different from the past few mornings. We’ve had both sunny and warm and sunny and cool in just the past few days. (Welcome to Georgia.) This morning the sky was overcast as I peeked out the window, putting on my shoes. I expected it to be brisk, but instead it was very much becoming of a proper spring morning. (No Winter, you’re still not fooling me. I know you’re still around.)
As Miss Sophie sniffed the ground, I took a deep breath and thought about how different and yet beautiful this quiet morning was. And it occurred to me, all of these days, with all of their differences–in temperature and breezes and birdsong and sunlight or clouds–all of these were made by the same Creator. The same Artist painted the sun and brightness of yesterday and the day before as painted the gray and overcast of today. The same Hand waved the breeze gently yesterday as waved the whipping winds of today.
Same Designer and yet different designs. No two days alike.
Is it any wonder the magnificence of differences in each one of us? We have been designed and created by One who loves uniqueness and whimsy and color and light and all different shades and hues and sounds. By One who delights in each one of us. Just as we are.
Today was so different from the past few. Tomorrow, bringing back a taste of the chill, will be even more different. But will any of us disregard a day in our life as unworthy or a total waste simply because it is different?
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? I can still get things done, I can still eat and work and do laundry and play with my children, you say, no matter the weather. I can go to work and the grocery store and send my cousin a birthday card, no matter what the day looks like. Oh sure, I might have to adjust my route or the timing of a thing or two if the day is very different, but a day that is a total waste simply because of the way it is? That’s crazy talk, Tara.
And I say you are right.
No day, no matter how different from our ideal–balmy, sunny, light breeze, birds singing, just a few beautiful fluffy clouds in the sky–is a waste. Even if it snowed tomorrow (ha! what year do I think it is? 1993?) it wouldn’t be a waste, would it? It might not go just as we had planned, but I expect most of us would come up with something that would make us feel downright all right about the day. A waste? That’s blasphemy!
And so I think it’s the same with people. The Artist and Designer and Creator and Maestro who came up with the Idea of how special we were and are and can be made each one of us different in so many ways. It is really beautiful to think about. As much as I seem to enjoy talking to myself (ahem), I don’t think I would enjoy it very much if all I had to talk with or relate to or share thoughts with were more of me.
And yet we have a bad habit of disregarding someone if they are different from us, don’t we? I have been known to do it. Oh well, she doesn’t see things the same way I do, so…..it would be a waste of my time to get to know her any more. Oh my, he is definitely making different choices than I would…..did you see what he was wearing? I’ll just move on, not worth getting to know him. We’d have nothing in common.
I’m speaking in generalities, but the truth is we all have specific, very specific things that we use as reasons to disregard another person. Their faith, where they live, their income bracket, their schooling, their skin color, their gender, their sexuality, their health status, their job status, their style of speaking, their marital status, their hair color, the music they listen to, the clothes they wear…..shall I go on?
It reminds me of our neighborhood drama. On a daily basis one of the children tells one or several of the others, “We’re not best friends anymore.” Because…..you won’t play what I want to play…..you won’t listen to what I’m saying…..you won’t let me go first…..you won’t come to my yard and leave her out…..you won’t share your doll with me…..you went home for lunch…..
and on and on it goes. Those seem pretty childish, I know, but the things described before theseconcerns and issues of the 5-10 year old bunch also seem pretty childish. If we never associated with anyone different from us, how sad would that be? I wouldn’t have very many friends.
Scratch that.
I wouldn’t have any friends. I don’t think that anyone I know and care about is exactly like me.
And for that I am extremely grateful.
Throwing away the chance to get to know someone, someone designed and created and orchestrated by the Great One just as he or she is simply because he or she is different, that’s as ridiculous as throwing away a day in our life just because the weather isn’t perfect.
That’s just full of the foolishness, as my folks used to say.
Make today a day to go and meet someone new. Someone different. Or maybe you already know someone but haven’t made time to say hello. I’m not saying you have to be BFF’s Forevuh or anything, but I bet you’ll be surprised if you really take time to listen to their stories. You just might find you have more in common than you do different. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll appreciate them for the work of Art they are. And vice versa.
Go be fabulous. You were made to be exactly that.
Love to all.
I Might Need A Nap 