Black and White *and shades of gray*

If you were to watch a television show in black and white, you would see more than just black and white, you would also see shading. The shading comes in different shades of gray. The inability to accept these shades of gray is one of the things that is separating many people from those that they love. It's the shades of gray that I am going to address.

I grew up in a black and white home.

I went to a black and white church.

I believed in a black and white God.

Let me explain what I mean. In the home I grew up in there were very definite rights and wrongs. Dating was wrong. Friends were right. Sex was wrong. Love was right. Fighting was wrong. Yelling was 'right'. *ok so mom and dad didn't teach us yelling was right...not really but it was the impression* These rights and wrongs were built on an understanding of a system of beliefs. When I say I went to a black and white church I mean that the truths of the gospel were taught, but in a way that left no room for open-mindedness or for not judging. A black and white God sat up in heaven and commanded us to follow his law, and if we believed in him we did.

So as I grew up, I grew into a typical 'judgemental' Christian. Divorce was 'wrong'...and if you couldn't see that you were obviously not a Christian. I grew up into a woman who followed the letter of the law. I was nearly faultless, but my heart...my heart was not in the right place.

Then one day I looked around me. Do you know what I saw when I did? I saw color. Everywhere I looked I saw color. Different and bright colors. God opened my heart and said " I love you." This was important because God couldn't love me...not really you see for I am getting divorced. Divorce is wrong and therefore I have entered the 'I can't really be a Christian' group of people. But He did love me and he kept loving me. He never stopped.

For a while I turned away from him. "How could he abandon me? How could he do this to me? There is no God." But then again God spoke to me "I love you." All of a sudden I began to see that the colors around me were the shading God so lovingly crafted into the picture of my life.

My life changed drastically when I opened the box I thought God was in and realized that my God in a box was just an empty box. I truly turned my life over to Christ and began seeing the shades of gray. The beautiful, beautiful gray. It's the shades of gray that make our world such a beautiful place. It's the shades of gray that give off all the color that we see.

I am able to accept differences and applaud them. I am willing to hear things others don't hear. I really listen. I don't judge you, it's not my place. I won't judge you, it's not my place. But I will pray for you *and I do*.

God is not a God of black and white. God is a God of color, of gray. He has stepped out of his comfort zone and is reaching down and loving us, though we don't deserve to be loved. He asks us to do the same.

It's not about being different than those around you, or those that you love. It's about loving them. It's about accepting them. It's about respecting them. It's about opening your mind and realizing that there is a bigger world out there than the world of you. It's about making the decision to respect our differences and love each other anyway.

I love that you are different than me. I love that you accept me for who I am.

Accept the gray in the world around you, you will see that suddenly, your world has become a brighter and more beautiful place. Mine has. I am blessed in so many ways. Mainly, I am blessed that I am able to see past the difference between the black and white. Learning to accept and love the differences in the people around you instead of judging them for being different, will open up a whole new world for you.

I grew up in a black and white home.
I went to a black and white church.
I believed in a black and white God.

But now, now I believe in a God who uses all the colors and different shades of gray.

**Please note** I am not saying that the things that the Bible teaches us are wrong are 'gray areas'. There are definitely somethings that truly are black or white.

But the truth of the matter is, the Bible is written in color too.