Why do so many of us judge others for their color, race, creed, religion, ethnicity, or politics? We concentrate on our differences rather than our similarities. We don’t seem to realize the significance of the adage “I am because we are;” we are the ubuntu of each other’s lives.
When God made a rainbow, He didn’t make it all white, but He made it with multi-colors. One rainbow stands for His love; two rainbows stand for His faith in us. With every rainbow, He gives us peace after the storms that seek to destroy our lives and our loved ones. When peace, grace, forgiveness, and love enter our hearts, God is standing beside us saying, “Come unto me all ye who are tired and let me calm your souls with the colors of my world, with the beautiful leaves of fall. My creations will sleep for the winter, and like the seeds that I have planted in all of you for your growth, I will bring forth the colors of the spring in due time.”
Just as Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, His blood is the same blood that runs through all of our veins. Our colors, races, creeds, religions, ethnicity, and politics are the differences that make us unique to ourselves, but our similarities are what make us unique to God. He knows every single hair on our heads and can tell the difference between everyone of us. He knew us before we were born, and He has plans for our unique paths. We are all walking one path to our eternal home, His eternal home. That is what makes us one ubuntu, one family. He is our eternal Father, the One who calls us to be loving individuals.
God gave us choice so that we might make good and moral choices for ourselves, our families, and our nations. He gave us eyes to see His diverse colors so that we might see our similarities and learn to love our differences. He gave us hearts so that we might grow to love one another as family members love their families. He gave us mouths so that we might speak good things about each other and to acknowledge that God hears everything we say, good or bad. He gave us ears so that we might hear His natural symphony of the birds and animals or the cries of a little child. He gave us a sense of touch so that we might comfort our loved ones, friends, and strangers. When we learn to use all of these special gifts without prejudice, hatred, or violence, we acknowledge that we are all God’s children, troubled but still loved by Him. Because He knows our paths and our faults, He forgives us by sending us His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He made us in His image not so that we could be like Him but so that we could be the best that we could be in the world He created for us.
When we admit that our distrust of one another is based on fear, we can move forward to know each other. Just as fear is taught, experienced, and grown in everyone of us, so hatred has a place to grow in our hearts. People’s views are a result of their life experiences and the people who influence them. Just as we have learned to build walls between us to protect us from our differences, so the police need to move from a warrior mentality to one of being guardians, from dominance to protection. This change only comes about when the community and the police come together as one family to work out their differences and discover their similarities. As we take each brick of fear down from those walls, we need to remember what God has promised us, an abundant life filled with new people and new experiences. When we take those bricks down together, we are building lives filled with rainbows and the fall colors of equality, honor, integrity, and peace.
God’s grace comes into our hearts as we destroy symbols of hatred. Recognizing our common humanity makes us more willing to see the positives in all of us. Every child is important in God’s eyes, and we must strive to give them every opportunity for a better life. As God has given us choice, we must make a moral choice to change the ways of discrimination, mistrust, hatred, and violence. Then and only then will our nation and the world be free of the negative things that have so tormented us in the past. Our futures are dependent upon what positive and graceful decisions we make today.
When we choose to morally change the troubles of our societies, we cannot allow ourselves to become complacent again. We must do the hard work so that change continues for generations to come. Old habits are hard to change, but we must learn to disagree with compassion, not violence. We need to listen, not shout. We must stop hiding behind preconceived notions and cynicism. We are our own worst enemies when we continue to allow the negativity and sarcasm of our world to become the basis for making any decision.
Seeing ourselves in each other’s shoes allows justice to grow. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness depend on our freedom to be who and what God made us to be. Our pasts cannot be used as weapons for injustice, as shields against progress. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past, but we must work together to build bridges to one another, knowing that each step forward is a positive one for our futures and a better world for our children. Each step forward is a plus for our similarities and an acknowledgement that a little difference is good in its own way.
Our combined paths of grace demand open minds and open hearts. When we find the good in all of us, everything is possible, and change will be the outcome necessary for a more positive acceptance of our differences. God is calling all of us to see His rainbows and the colors of the fall so that we may more fully know His love. In that love, we were born, and in that peace, we are walking toward our eternal home, God’s home.
Anna Hartt
