Thanks For Asking

Assumptions are dangerous companions. “I’m a doctor…” so I assume you are wealthy. “I am a school teacher…” I assume you’re not. “I am an officer in the U.S. Army…” so you love combat and war. “I am a non-combatant…” so you are not a patriot. Assumptions are dangerous. When someone asks me what I do in life, and when I say “I am a pastor” I sometimes get that “O, that’s too bad” look. Because the assumption is that I believe and act in certain ways which are irrational or irrelevant…by the questioner’s standards. Don’t assume people into categories; when you do, you shrink the size of the world considerably. Not everyone is like me, or you. Not everyone should be like me, or you. Diversity is life-giving. You and I are like individual cells in a living body. In ways I do not understand, I am important to life; without me, one little cell, the world would be different. Same for you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: what you think, say and do make a difference. You were made for this moment. But the underlying problem is that you and I assume that the real people of “value” make the headlines, accomplish big things. Maybe that false assumption is what drives some of us to seek power and control, or some of us to quit because we never make the “big time.”

Does one yellow wildflower matter in the field of flowers? Does one bird in the sky make any difference? One song? One kind act? One helping hand? So, thanks for asking what I do, or what I believe, or what I hold sacred…just don’t measure me by your personal standards which you assume to be universal. There I go preaching again! Well, I am a pastor/preacher/teacher, but I’m retired and I don’t do those things anymore. Really? Another assumption. Those things are everywhere!