Boys Only...Girls Only

"Girls Only!"...."Boys Only!"

These were signs that managed to get past me and taped to doors upstairs at my house. Then, being the great mom that I am, I never stopped to really read what was on these signs. Then yesterday my sweet, innocent little 4 year old daughter asked for help spelling out "Girls Only! No Boys in my room!" Her big brother actually helped her spell it. Then she got some tape and proceeded to hang it on her door. Since she wanted me to read it I finally discovered what was on the doors upstairs. All the signs went in the trash.

I want my kids to learn that we don't exclude others because they are different from us. We spent the day talking about how God gave us all gifts and that even though we are different it is because God wants us to be different. They seemed to at least start to understand. I know this is going to be an ongoing lesson with many set backs, but it has to start somewhere.

Diversity is not something to be scared of. God made us all unique and then to add on top of that we have all had unique lives that we have led to this point. This was made so very clear to me tonight. At the Bible study that I attended we split into 5 small groups. For us it was a random selection, but for God it was very intentional.

The group I selected was based on the fact that I knew one other person in the group and I knew the leader. Every other face was brand new to me. As we went around the circle and shared a tiny bit about our lives some tears started flowing. Some prayer started happening. And some walls started to come down. When we got to the last person I just knew that God had already started a work in our group. The last woman didn't feel like she belonged in our group because she thought she had nothing in common with us. Nothing, that is, until the woman right before her shared. Some of their life journeys were similar enough to make the last woman ready to share. I go into this only because it is such a picture of how God works. We thought we were a random group of women but God knew that we were meant to be together and grow together. Something very special happened tonight with a very diverse group of women.

We have all led different lives, but we have a few things in common. A desire to know God more, to know who we are in Him, and to do this with like-minded women who can become friends.

How can we grow if we are all alike? If we exclude others because they are not just like we are?

Acts 2:42-47 says
⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

See, we may be different, but we should be TOGETHER. The early church would have fallen completely apart if they had split themselves based on differences. But they were together and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

So, there will be no "Boys Only" and "Girls Only" in our house. Because, you see, we girls have a lot to learn from those boys, and I am pretty sure it is the same the other way around!