Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Walking in the Other Shoe

Ever since I started working at the Sheraton it's really helped me 'walk in the other shoe' with those who call themselves 'spiritual' or even 'Christian' but not following the way of Christ yet. For many the hotel is their friends and family - the ones they count on in life. Strangely, I find them the most accepting group of people to be around. It begs the question why the church can not be more like this, accepting people as they are?

Maybe it's the fact that to many times we think we have everything figured out and we assume that our perception is the reality. I've always hated the phrase 'perception is reality.' Yet so often we label our perceptions on people. And based on our perceptions we assign right or wrong to how they are living. Don't get me wrong, there is truth in Christ's way and when we discover a truth we need to live it out, but we aren't going to do it perfectly. The thing that bugs me is when we assign our reality to someone else and decide it's our mission to change everything we think is wrong with the person or we just stop pursuing the relationship altogether because 'it just wouldn't be worth our time.'

Luke loves to walk in my shoes. He thinks I'm pretty cool, tall, adventurous, fun...Really one of the most amazing people walking the earth. I don't argue to often with them on this point. That's his perception, thus his assumed reality. But the real truth is if he really was able to understand everything about my shoes he would feel the lately stress, frustration, loneliness, and fear of failure. I'm glad he's only two and hope his perception of reality continues for awhile. All I'm really saying is it's time for us to wear the other shoe for awhile and discover that someone's real reality needs someone who will take them as they are and encourage them to seek the way God intended us to be, not as we think they should be.

0 comments: