“Deliberately Diverse” represents the individual thoughts and opinions of a group of Taylor friends who almost never completely agree about anything but are gratified by the opportunity to stimulate deliberately diverse discussions in our beloved community.
Today’s column represents the thoughts and opinions of Judith Pyeatt Grisson, NOT the Taylor Press.
My son celebrated his 47th Birthday, and daughter, JJ, wrote a moving Celebration of his Life, as she described having Garrett for her special “Irish twin brother.” She spoke of their closeness and bond, and, how even though their personalities were so different, the differences only enhanced their lives. I thought, “how do we celebrate those from whom we are different, and thank and respect those whose differences add the color to our lives?”
Gratitude is a practice; a discipline of living. We do not always acknowledge that feeling of gratitude, but we can choose to develop the practice and enrich our own and other’s lives. For my daughter, gratitude for the qualities she recognizes in others pours out of her in a rich, clear waterfall of love! As a child, she and Garrett thought as children; fought as children, but now, see more clearly the bonds that tie them together!
God did not create us to be alike - indeed God did not create us to think one way, believe one way, believe that our way was the highway. No, God created diversity from the beginning: male and female; sun and moon; each intricate detail as fine as tatting. What a puny, pale world would it be if we were alike, thought alike. In fact, what use would our brains have?
Let us pray aloud, for praying aloud puts it “out there.” Pray aloud to have the love in our own hearts to appreciate the differences. Pray for grace to cherish views which differ from your own views; accepting that we live in a world of different churches, different political parties, and vast differences in and within each of our own chosen institutions. Only together and with God within can we form that community; recognizing our need for the other, and having the Humility to Love, Embracing Unity in Diversity.
Didn’t the “Great Freeze Storm of 2023” bring that out in our community? People cared and took care of one another. Hurrah to our city government and first responders and the everyday neighbors cutting and cleaning up the fallen tree limbs of a neighboring yard; bringing that steaming soup to someone who needed it; opening up churches and other areas as “warming centers” with food; giving boxes from Shepherd’s Heart to those who could not find or get food otherwise; offering homes and needed companionship to others without electricity, or heat. Suddenly labels disappeared. No one cared about political or religious or whatever affiliations. Suddenly we were together, working as a team, solving problems in Love for the neighbor.
The tragedy became a conduit for God’s Love.
And that is what God is waiting for - a community of people to recognize that the Kingdom of God truly lives now, among us, in the action of active love. I don’t pray for another “Freeze Storm”; but I do pray for “The Great Freeze Storm” in our hearts to have a permanent thaw, and a cleanup with God’s Love.
