Around the Table

As a family we all sit around the same table. We are surrounded by the same environment. Each place setting is the same, just like the one next to us. The lighting is the same, the room temperature is the same and the noise level is the same. The conversation around the table is one topic, discussed and engaged by each of us. We are all presented with the same meal. Our family favorite. We say a prayer of thanks.

We each finish our plate, and after respectfully waiting for the others at the table to finish their meal, we all clear away our dishes and clean up.

We walk away to continue our evening events…

Each of us leave the table with a different perspective of the meal… why?

If we were all given the EXACT same food, environment and topic of discussion… why would we all view the meal differently?

This is an illustration I use to remind my children (and myself) that we are all different. We are unique. There are no two people alike. Even when presented with everything exactly the same, we can never be, and will never be, like one another.

We think differently. We experience differently. We grow differently. We are different.

As individuals we are created to be INDIVIDUAL.

We are created to be UNIQUE.

I do my best to teach my children that my opinion is not the only opinion that counts. My thoughts are not always right. My actions are not always conceived as correct by others. While I am fearfully and wonderfully made, so is the person next to me and all the people around me.

We are living in an entitled society and a selfish world. My rights. My freedoms. My choices. My life. While it is “mine”... I do not live here alone. We are people living together. We are created for relationship with one another despite our differences. We are created to build one another up. Created to serve one another and to love one another. We cannot do this if we are self seeking or self preserving.

Completely loving another means putting aside my selfishness. I must embrace each person’s differences and remind myself that in our difference we are each unique.

Being in a family we need to remember this: If we cannot love our differences within our own family, how are we to love the world outside of us?

"Love your neighbor as yourself." ~ Matthew 22:39