Thursday Morning Thoughts and Prayers

If a thought or behavior divides us, it is not of God; if it unites us, it is of God. -Wayne Dyer, Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life

Why is that such a hard concept to grasp? Humans live to divide. We divide into tribes, nations, religious affiliations, classes, races, sexual orientations and genders. What ridiculous creatures we are - wanting to find that extra something that makes us more special than someone else, more favored than someone else and especially more loved by God than someone else.

Scripture tells us that God shows no partiality (Romans 2:11) and that before God there is no male or female (Galatians 3:28). There is no distinction when God looks at us. All God sees are His beloved children. All God sees is Her image, lurking inside of each of us, dying to get out. But we keep our God essence locked up tight as we divide and divide and divide.

We feel so righteous when we divide. We feel like we're engaged in an activity blessed by God, but we are not. Our penchant to divide comes from fear and fear does not come from God. We are afraid that someone might get more than us, be more favored than us and be loved by God more than us. In that fear, we divide, we hate, we destroy anyone who threatens our feeling of specialness.

We see it in church and society all the time as GLBT Christians. Those who fear including us in God's love verbally abuse us, call us names, exclude us, and work to keep us from full participation in the body of Christ. In society, those who fear losing their special status pass laws preventing us from benefiting from federal marriage laws or federal job protections.

Fear and division do not come from God. Only when we set aside our differences and realize that we are all beloved children of God will we finally get a glimpse of what God intends for Her realm. The realm of God is here - we only make it a reality when we unite in the assurance that we are all special to our Creator.

Remember, if you have a prayer or a praise, feel free to post it in the comments and we'll pray for you or celebrate with you!