Type

A door in my town... "Jesus is my Lord"

Type.

Watching the US culture from afar these last 9 years has made me keenly aware of a shift.  While humans have always liked to generalize to some degree, the US culture has currently become obsessed with types. The right types the left.  The left types the right.  The red types the blue.  The breast-feeding mom types the bottle-feeding mom.   The over-indulgent parent types the strict parent.  It is everywhere I look and listen in the US.

I have watched the smartest of my friends slip into one side or the other and begin to allow language of exclusion into their vocabulary.   I have listened to people urge me to take a side, to speak out, to choose.

The saddest part... we are smarter than this.

We really do know deep down that no-one is 100% typeable.   Even Jesus is described from different perspectives by the writers of the Gospels.    If we only had one Gospel, our perspective of the life and person of Jesus would be skewed.  Even with all we read in the New Testament about Jesus, we still cannot type Him.  He is so much more than a type.

God has given us brains and hearts to analyze, to read His Word, to consider context, to look for the real wrongs, to avoid fake news, to be careful with our influence.  

Yes, there are things that are non-negotiable that should raise all voices ...  trafficking of humans,  hunger, abuse of children, taking of life.

Most other things are nuanced.

If I am a type, I want to be the type who speaks of purple and gray and subtlety and grace.   May I be typed as a lover of people, a helper, a peacemaker.    May I speak about the few sure things God has given me to speak about and may I listen in every other instance.

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Prompt today is TYPE.    @hopewriters has helped me explore my voice once again and get my pen out to share that voice.   #hopewriterlife