The Gift of Diversity

When I was young, my family took a trip to the White Mountains in Arizona. On this particular day, we visited a national park. I remember there being a large, paved pathway you could walk that would take you straight through. But at one point, we all strayed from that path and began exploring the surrounding forest on our own.

I have never been one to choose the broader path. I prefer the overgrown ones that take you to places wild and unknown.

And on this day–

I did.

While the voices of my family grew softer, I realized I could get lost if I kept going. But I couldn’t help myself. Something was drawing me away.

And then I saw it.

A meadow, untouched by the world.

Tall trees parted as I drew near like curtains moving aside to reveal a stage just for me.

It was a place that might make even a sensible person believe in faeries.

A tiny brook crisscrossed through pebbles and lush green ground cover. And a miniature spruce was growing all by itself in the very middle, surrounded by tall silky green blades of grass and wildflowers stretching above them, peeking out and swaying to some enchanted tune I could not hear.

A rush of wind moved through the trees, and their leaves resembled the sounds of softly clapping hands.

Moving on it rustled through the blades of grass pushing the wildflowers back and forth in a frenzy, only to settle down again into a lazy sway.

I was entranced.

I simply could not be afraid of a single thing here.

Just peace.

It overwhelmed me.

I was taken with the contrast of this place. How each detail was so different from the other, yet when placed together.

Perfection.

When I think of this, I think of God and how he seeks to do just this with all of his creation. Different coming together to create a masterpiece.

Harmony.

A messy kind of beautiful.

The best kind.

If in nature it can all come together this way. Why can’t we?

We can.

Not in being the same. But in being our own unique selves and not apologizing for it as though we were somehow created mistakenly or with a flaw.

But beautifully different. Different on purpose.

We are each intentionally made.

And when we all come together,

We are a tapestry.

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 116-17, NKJV

So let us not just tolerate one another like we so often do with things we do not understand. But let’s seek to celebrate each other instead. Seeing what makes us different as the unique threads which weave us all into something exquisite and entirely beautiful.