Praying Made Easy. 4. To Accept Differences
“To accept differences in people is what I like best about my job.” Gram was telling me about her job at Tyrrell Library. “I get to meet and help folks from all walks of life. Their differences make them all interesting.”
Admittedly, Gram worked in a small city in Beaumont, TX. Back then Tyrrell Library served a fairly all-of-a-kind user base: white middle-class educated and employed. Yet her statement means much. To accept the differences.
Not only does the world have more people; it also has less space between us. Not just physical space: figurative space, cyberspace, digital space. We work and play, interact and interchange with more and more people with more and more differences.
Sometimes it’s not easy. Not comfortable. Not welcome.
Whether you actually face such a time or you want to prepare to make that time successful, try this.
In your mind see a legal page with a line draw down the middle. The left side’s heading: Similar. The right side’s heading: Different. Use this page to quantify what similar and what is different between you an “the other”, whoever she or he may be.
Give yourself plenty of time. Fill in each column as exactly, with as much detail as you can. Give yourself plenty of times to return and add to the list.
After each time spent listing, consider
- How much faster can you think of Similar items?
- How much longer is your Similar list?
Our Prayer to Accept Differences
Creative Creator,
I am grateful you made each of us from One
that is one perfect pattern.
And it is wonderful that you freed each of us
to be our Self, to create our identity.
Dealing with, moving beyond
and gladly accepting differences may challenge
any of us at just about any time.
We thank you, Spirit, for the power you give us
to see the limitless gifts and graces we have
in common with one another. The lists of how we are One,
from One, as One, wholly One are endless.
Enjoying that, we can appreciate, welcome, and make the most of
differences that make us unique.
We bless your creativity. We thank you for our differences.
And so it is. And so we let it be. Amen.
Love and blessings,
6 November 2017
In: Peace, Prayer, Praying · Tagged with: Difference, Oneness, praying