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| Has anyone actually purchased this sweater? And if so, why!! |
I am not stylish. I will never be named “best dressed”
minister. I do not enjoy clothes shopping. Yet, even though shopping is a task,
there are occasions when I do need to pick up an item or two and even though I
don’t have an eye for what’s fashionable I can sense when something is
absolutely garish. There seem to be some items that make you wonder how they
ever ended up in a store. Some things are just so ugly you wonder if anybody
has actually bought them.
That recently happened to me but then I looked at the
situation from a different point of view. Since it is in a store, whoever buys
for the store must have looked at that item and thought, “Wow, that’s very
fashionable. I bet we could sell this in my store.” And going beyond that, whoever
designs clothes must have sat down at their clothes-designing table (or
wherever clothes are designed) and conceived that article of clothing and
thought, “Wow, I’ve done a great job on this. It is beautiful. I am going to
turn my concept into an actual article of clothing. I’m sure this article of
clothing will be a big seller.”
I began to realize that even though it does not appeal to
me, it does appeal to someone. The article of clothing that I consider appalling
was someone else’s well-thought-out idea – an idea that they loved and
cherished. That would go for clothes, cars, art, and just about everything –
perhaps even people.
Let’s all be honest, there are some people who don’t appeal
to us. I know it’s wrong, but it happens. There are people that just don’t sit
right with us. It may be the way they look, the way they talk, they way they
smell – there are any number of factors that might elicit in me a similar
response that I had to that garish piece of clothing. “How could anyone love
this person?” I might conclude.
Maybe I need to look at people from a different perspective.
Assuming you believe that God has created every person and
since that person is on planet earth, He must have thought it was a good
idea. God must have sat down at his
people-designing table (or wherever people are designed) and thought, “Wow.
I’ve done a great job. I’m going to turn this idea into an actual person. I’m sure
this person will be loved by everyone just like I love them.”
That doesn’t mean that I have to like every shirt. But what
does it mean that every person who has ever lived is a uniquely designed
creation of the good and perfect God? What does it mean that God has created
each person in His image, the ones you like and the ones you don’t like?
That co-worker down the hallway. The neighbor down the
street. The cashier at the store. The senator in Washington. The boss. And the
list goes on. When God created them he said, “Wow. I’ve done a great job. I’m
going turn this idea into an actual person.”
Maybe when we start seeing every person as designed and loved
by God then we might be able to “love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”
