Don't see the glitz

"Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too." (Will Smith)  We live in a world of people - everywhere we look, we are surrounded by people, of all walks of life, all manner of beliefs, with a full range of ideas, hopes, and disappointments.  We don't inhabit this earth alone - no matter how far we go to isolate ourselves, or how introverted we become - people are still going to be living life on this earth with us.  It behooves us to find ways to understand their hearts, see their hurts, appreciate their struggles, and to  invite them into our lives rather than pushing them further and further away from it.  We don't have to understand all of the other person's challenges, choices, or commitments in order to understand they are created beings struggling to find their way just as we are.

Those who have understanding hearts hunger after knowledge, but those with no understanding feast on foolishness. (Proverbs 15:14 VOICE)

I think we make a feast of foolishness sometimes, all the while overlooking the true hunger in our hearts.  We find ourselves feasting on some things we just probably would do well to turn away from.  I watched just a short video online the other day about a gal who was going to show the viewers of her video how to "fix themselves up" for the day, complete with the glittery eyes, bold eyeliner, long lashes, glowing red lipstick, and all the rest of "glitz" she displayed.  It started with her showing just how she looked all "made up", but the real point of the video was to show just how much the "glitz" covered over what was really underneath it all.  I think there are lots of moments like this in life - times when we cover over things with all the "glitz" we can muster, all the while hoping no one sees what is truly underneath all that "paint and goo".

Her point was to drive us to look beyond the showy stuff on the outside and to really see what was on the inside of an individual.  To look beyond what appears to be the really "cool" stuff they say or how "put together" they may appear.  At the core of it all is likely the same struggle we might be walking through right now, or the one we just finally made it past a short time ago.  We sometimes don't seek to understand the soul of another before we condemn that soul because of what we observe with our eyes.  To understand we are not unique, but actually quite similar, for all of us is made up of body and soul, with a place designed perfectly for the Spirit of God, is to really begin to look beyond the surface of an individual's "display".

We are all connected in this way - created not as uniquely different from each other - but fashioned in the same three parts - body, soul, and spirit.  Each with a mind, all with a beating heart, every one of us with emotional make-ups which drive us upward one day and plunge us into the depths of despair the next.  We don't always have to see all the differences we each possess - we just might do well to begin to see all the similarities.  We don't have to choose to accept each of the choices the other makes - we might instead begin to pray intently for those we don't understand, agree with, or adhere to.  

I don't know who I will vote for this year, but I will make some choice.  I don't know what natural disaster will overtake us next, but I will do my best to be ready and to be of service to others who might not weather it as well.  I may not fully appreciate your struggle because I haven't walked it myself - but I know someone who has walked every path we could ever walk and he did it without ever stumbling, so I can hold him out to you in order that you might take his hand as you walk that path.  Sometimes the greatest understanding we can reach is that we are not always right, nor are we always perfectly put together.  In realizing this, we may just come a little closer to being the example God desires us to be to those who cross our path, complete with all their imperfections and struggles, as well.  Just sayin!