Good morning…
As I think back on our magical walk through the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia in Athens, I still am amazed at the feast of shapes and sizes, colors and textures, layers of life and sweet intimate intricacies. With God’s handiwork freely on display, one unmistakeable quality of our Creator is this: we are each created by the Almighty God who absolutely loves variety.
Variety is woven into every ounce of God’s growing creation. Undeniable. Unstoppable. Unexplainably abundant.
My mind trails back to a question posed by a friend in our small group as we shared a meal and discussion on our back porch last week. “Why can’t we just disagree?” she innocently asked. After wandering through the wonderful gardens, her question transforms a bit in my heart and my mind: “Why can’t we just celebrate our God-given variety?”
The apostle Paul now enters my inner dialogue. But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons (1 Corinthians 12:19-23, MSG).
In our incredible bodies and in the growing garden, might we give each unique part dignity and honor just as it is, without comparison? Individual parts need space to develop just as they are, and differences are savored with peaceful acceptance. LORD, inspire us to extend Your loving embrace to the colorful variety of people You have knit into Your eternal design.
…Sue…
