Faces

London is no longer the city of white faces, if it ever was.  Every color, shade, and texture of person is represented on the city’s streets.  Languages mix and mingle while attitudes morph and shape.  It is as if the world’s faces are out on display!  As I walk it is easy to realize how different I am on the surface.  The difference is not good or bad, it just is.  Foremost in the differences I notice is the language we speak.  We have different vocabularies.  We use different metaphors.  We see life through different frames.  Frequently I have no idea what the words I hear mean.  I don’t understand the metaphors.  The conversations make no sense; at least as my ears hear them!
 
Two things strike me about London, New York, and increasingly any city I travel to.  First, the fact that others speak a different language, even when they look and act similar to me, is something I should note and react to.  I shouldn’t assume others know and understand my language.  I shouldn’t force them to learn my language in order to communicate with me.  Second, diversity is futile grounds for learning and growth.  With differences comes a broader perspective.  With new metaphors one can grasp things otherwise beyond one’s reach.  With different insights one has a change of dealing with the twists and turns of the journey we are on.
 
Even as I write I realize I have overlooked yet again a third fact.  There is virtually no chance others know my God.  When bad things happen, remember, “they are going to do all these things to you because of the way they treated me [others who came before], because they don't know the One [Divinity] who sent me.”  (John 15.21)
 
The fact that we speak different language, see life through different portals, and create new vistas differently isn’t a problem.  Just think of each face as an opportunity to share life’s real values – compassion, mercy, and acceptance.  Imagine a world of learning and teaching.  Diversity with dialogue can help us all.