Her hair was dyed and styled with copious amounts of
hairspray. Her eyeshadow was bold, what you could see behind the thick mascara,
that is. She laughed loudly, dressed loudly, sang loudly. She was the opposite
of most the women with whom I went to seminary.
As I sat down opposite her in a women-only Sunday School
class at our new church, I decided she wasn’t very spiritual. I didn’t realize
until later that I was making assumptions about her. Stereotyping, really. You
see, I had never stopped to think how homogenous my seminary was. Sure, we had
international students and a few students from varied ethnic backgrounds, but
they were mostly quiet and studious, like me. After forty-one months on campus
there, I had unwittingly internalized a spiritual ‘type’ for women.
Over the next few months, Cathy (not her real name) offered
profound insights into our class study. She talked of past hurts and how God
had used them to mature her faith. I watched her share generously with everyone
around her, and my own family experienced her hospitality. She quoted Scripture
and prayed earnestly.
But most importantly, Cathy loved. She loved hard. It was
something I had forgotten how to do while my nose was stuck in a systematic
theology book.
In other words, Cathy put me in my place, and I (thirteen
years later) am still thankful for it. Sure, I had the classroom education, but
she had the real-world experience our classmates needed more than they needed
my historical facts and theological terminology.
Don’t misunderstand me. I relished seminary, and I am always
thankful for it. God stretched and sustained me in new and wonderful ways while
we were there. It just took me awhile to realize I inadvertently acquired some
‘notions’ at the same time. Cathy helped me expose them and gave me an example
to follow—maybe not in makeup application but definitely in Christlikeness.
It’s easy to forget that God uses all types of people from
all kinds of backgrounds. These days, it’s one of the things I love most about
Him. (Read more about this in my post, Popcorn
Conformity!) By this point, you’re probably thinking of the same Scripture
passage that has come to my mind. Let’s read it anyway and think for a minute.
Even so the body
is not made up of one part but of many.
But in fact God
has placed the
parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all
one part, where would the body be? As it is, there
are many parts, but one body. -1 Corinthians 12:14, 18-20
Question for
reflection: Is there a sister-in-Christ about whom you have made
assumptions because of her appearance or personality? Ask God for a special
dose of grace to see her as God sees her, then examine your own experiences for
where that type of assumption was planted in your past so you can remove it
completely.
Carole Sparks is passionate about God’s Word—about how it can change our everyday lives! After years of globetrotting, she now lives, learns, and loves (plus a good bit of writing) in the hills of East Tennessee. Connect with Carole through her website, http://carolesparks.com or her blog, http://notaboutme1151.wordpress.com.
You can also find Carole on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
