So...my wife is on a kick of looking for sugar-free, high-fructose-free, natural/organic groceries. I think it's a great thing. Until you really get to know what is on the shelves, what is the one thing you HAVE to do to try and follow this lifestyle? You have to read the ingredients. Why? Because not everything about a product is going to be listed on the colorful front label... You have to dig deeper. Afterall, how do you know what you are eating/drinking if you don't read the ingredients?
Categorizing, organizing, classifying, studying, ... labeling - our society is obsessed with these. We apply these labels to anything we possibly can. We do it to our bicycles, our cars, our houses, our clothes, our music, our light-bulbs, our friends, our family, strangers, ourselves, and even our faith. Even if you don't subscribe to a specific faith you probably label yourself as "Agnostic". But how many of us enjoy being labeled by others? Some of us are not bothered in the slightest. Some people even seek out being "labeled."
Have you ever been labeled by someone? How accurately did that one label depict fully who you were? Does that label still apply today? Can't we, as "evolving" (and I do use that term loosely) humans, change? Aren't we supposed to change?
Have you ever labeled someone, only to find out more information about that person, and had to change how you viewed them?
Have you ever started to get to know someone, and had them label themselves? How closely did their label really identify with your understanding of that label?
I've had several friends approach me and label themselves as Christian, yet fail to follow many of the traditional tenets of Jesus' teachings. Conversely I've had other friends approach me and label themselves as Atheists, and yet after much conversation about the subject, it was apparent that they were truly Agnostic.
Many of these problems stem from our human nature to want to quickly identify something to determine whether or not we need to look further into it. It is all too easy to simply write something off once we've "determined" that is not something that we believe we are interested in.
The truth is, we've all got a story. We've all got experiences. We've all got something unique about us that is worth exploring. We all have a unique perspective that can, when used properly, help others.
Upon hearing this, many people may simply write off the rest of this article because they like to say "if everyone is special, then nobody is special." This is a logical fallacy that is as accurate as labeling a person that we have never heard of, from 1,000 miles off, while without the use of our eyes or ears.
So what's my motive in saying all this? Is it to unravel the secrets of the universe? No. Is it to get us to all love one-another? No...though that would be nice.
This is simply about looking deeper. Deeper into others, and deeper into yourself. You may think you know everything possible to know about yourself...but you never know what you may find when you finally cast off all your assumptions about what you *think* you know.
This is the part where you say, "but what if I don't like what I find?".
My answer? Simple; that's ok. Whatever you have found wasn't made for your purpose, it was made for God's. Now find your place in that purpose, and there you will find much satisfaction.
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