I suppose this week I should write about Thanksgiving, or maybe the beginning of the Christmas Season (Advent, as we call it in the church world). But that would be a bit too predictable. I didn’t want to write about giving thanks or celebrating gifts.
I was in the coffee shop the other day relaxing over hot, black, rich and bold coffee. I was reading a book, reflecting on what the author was challenging me to think about, and I was also engaging in one of my favorite pastimes; people watching.
A coffee shop is a great place to people watch. Every location attracts a different group of people. There is one in downtown Elmhurst within walking distance of Elmhurst College that attracts lots of college students, as well as people who work nearby, or business people meeting clients or associates in the area. Late in the morning, stay at home moms will show up, some with babies in strollers, others meeting friends for conversation. I have been to enough of the coffee shops in our area now to notice that many of them have their regulars; people who are there every time I go in, sitting in the same place, solving the world’s problems with the same group of people every day.
You see some odd things in coffee shops. The other day I saw a guy in full Michigan State gear, hat, sweatshirt, and jacket, sitting with a guy who had on a Michigan sweatshirt and cap…bitter rivals sharing a cup of joe.
I also notice that we are, like singer/song writer, Dave Matthews says, Ants Marching. We want to fit in, we like to look alike, “we all do it the same.”
Many of the men who come into the coffee shop are wearing jeans with a sport coat and dress shirt. A huge majority of the women have on boots with their pants tucked inside. We adapt to the latest fashion trends to fit in, become a part of the crowd, to make sure people know we are “with it”. It really is quite amazing how many of us dress in slight variations of the same thing.
Then in came a man who wasn’t trying to fit in at all. He was older than me (believe it or not!). His long gray hair was pulled into a ponytail. His beard was fashionably scraggly. He had on a black knit beret that had red, green and yellow stripes around it. His striped shirt stood out against his plaid sport coat. He had on khaki slacks and royal blue patent leather-like basketball sneakers that had optic orange laces! He was making a statement. He seemingly knew a lot of people in the shop, stopping to talk to many, flashing a quick and ready smile as he greeted them.
Refreshing, I thought. Isn’t that the way God created us? Each of us is a unique individual, no two alike. We were not created to be like “Ants Marching” in lock step with one another. Somehow, early on, we learn the herd instinct; “fitting in” becomes more important than expressing ourselves individually. So we put on our sport coat with our jeans and tuck our pants inside our boots and hope that people will notice that we are part of the latest fashion trend.
Unfortunately the same thing can happen with the way we think, the way we express ourselves, the causes we support, the things that we are “against”, the way we worship, and the way we decide that God works and doesn’t work in our world.
If there is anything we should celebrate during the Christmas season, it is that God has created us as unique individuals and that is a wonderful gift for which we should all give thanks.
Oops, I guess I did write about Thanksgiving and Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment