Russellings of the Spirit

“They are SO ODD!”

“I mean, look at that guy over there! What is up with that jacket he’s wearing? The sleeves are WAAAAYY too short and it’s not even zipped up all the way. Makes you want to shout, ‘DUDE! It’s 25 freaking degrees out! Bundle UP, for crying out loud!’”

“And what about THAT couple? I THINK they are together, but he is walking at least three steps in front of her. I’m tempted to wonder if it is a cultural thing, but they don’t look foreign. I mean, why even bother if you’re not even going to stay close enough to have a conversation with each other?”

“Good Lord look out. Here they come. It’s that young family with their two ‘cute’ kids in tow. Except for the fact that their kids are shouting at each other, falling down in the grass and just generally running amok. Don’t they care that some of us are out here trying to have a peaceful walk in the park? Folks… can’t you just control them for half a minute? Is it really necessary to visit this chaos on everyone around you?”

These days it seems that everywhere I turn I run into oddballs… you know, people who don’t LOOK like me, ACT like me, BELIEVE like me, or even SMELL like me. 

I mean, they’re EVERYWHERE! They seem to have gathered together (no doubt in some clandestine location somewhere) and brainstormed all the possible things they could do to unsettle and confound me. 

• “OK, you, Bill; why don’t you hit him with that goofy walk of yours. You know, the one where you kind of drag your right leg behind you every three steps?”
• “And Sylvia; your assignment is to post something on social media that is going to just send him up the WALL! You know the hot buttons pretty well, don’t you? Good!”
• “Which brings us to you, Wally. I want you to try to get in front of him there on the freeway, drive in the far left lane, BELOW the posted speed limit, and just STAY THERE! Think you can handle that?”
• “Are we good? OK… BREAK!”

Of course, I exaggerate… but only a little.

On way too many occasions I awake to discover that I have once again contorted my stereotypically human desire for peace and order into a less-than-godly antipathy for DIFFERENCE and DIVERSITY. 

I cast my eyes skyward and beseech my Creator, “Please, God! Things have to FIT! They have to MAKE SENSE! Why do you keep throwing me all of these CURVE BALLS? Why are there so many ODDBALLS around? Surely you know how much they UNSETTLE me?”

And God, smiling that perfectly serene (though occasionally annoying) smile, looks down and replies, “Oh my poor, confused child. You are so adorable sometimes in your misguidedness. This world you gaze upon with such disdain is EXACTLY the world I intended. It’s not a mistake.”

God then continued and said, “I made reds, and blues, and greens, and yellows. I also made aquamarine, and chartreuse, and puce, and tamarind…

“… ON PURPOSE!”

“I made short people, tall people, fat people, and skinny people. I made white folks, dark folks, Asian folks, and mingled-color folks. I made Christians, and Jews, and Muslims… Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and atheists…”

“… also ON PURPOSE.”

“I made Republicans, I made Democrats. I made fans of the Labor Party, the Communist Party, the Torries, and the Bharatiya Janata Party in India. I made people who are members of the Polish Solidarity Party, and – just because I have a sense of humor – members of the Polish Beer Lovers Party*…”

“… ALL of that, totally on purpose.” 

“Somewhere along the way, you seem to have forgotten that I am the God of VARIETY! I paint with a wild palette and bold strokes. I never wanted a monotone world, filled only with people who look and act and talk and speak like YOU.”

“In case you are not tracking with me here, Russell, ALL of this ‘oddness,’ as you call it, is absolutely according to my plan. Yes, it does frustrate me a lot when people like you forget that central truth and gripe and complain about the rich variety of my world.”

“You call yourself a student of my Word, but you seem to have forgotten the part in the very beginning – in the book of Genesis, in fact – where it says that I finished my act of CREATION, stood back, looked at it, and called it, “…VERY GOOD.” (Genesis 1:31, NRSV).

I bowed my head, chastened and humbled. “Of course,” I whispered. Of course God created a world of rich variety, texture, color, and depth. OF COURSE God intended us each to find our own place in the midst of this awesome tapestry and still appreciate the differences surrounding us.

“Thank you, God, for explaining all that to me. But God,” I whispered softly. “There is one thing I still don’t understand…”

“Diversity notwithstanding, how is it that people can still root for the RAIDERS??”

Abundant blessings;

* A real thing, by the way