People mix

It was a rare moment that I didn’t get fidgety with traffic while driving. My mind was more focused on what I was hearing over a Christian radio. The male speaker was talking about stew and a melting pot. I just tuned in so I thought he was talking about  recipse and food.

Not quite as I listened more (not minding the long queue of vehicles not moving before me). He was talking of people mixed with an analogy about  stew and a melting pot.

He said that in a melting pot the substances or ingredients are melted such that you don’t recognize what they are before they were  mixed together. You can’t recognize anymore the pepper and salt or separate the cornstarch and sugar when they are blended with milk in the pot.

However, in a stew, even as you boil the beef, potatoes and carrots, you can still see them clearly. The beef remains  beef and so are the potatoes and carrots. Each is still distinct from the other.

Do you live in a melting pot or stew?

Sometimes we want to make the people around us act in similar ways. Parents get frustrated when their daughter does not act like their son. Why can’t she be as intelligent and disciplined like her brother?

In the office, a boss does not allow diverse opinions. He demands that  his subordinates follow his ideas totally. No more, no less.

That’s a melting pot environment. People are expected to look the same, act uniformly and think as one. You may think there would  be no trouble but isn’t this environment a boring one?

People lose their identities in a melting pot because they are expected to always blend and be the same as the others.  Sad.

Isn’t a stew more exciting, more realistic and more humane?

Even if the potatoes are softened, they still look like potatoes. When the beef gets tenderized, it is still beef. And even when the onion separates during cooking, you can still see them in the stew.

People are unique with their own personalities, weaknesses and strengths. Even twins are not perfectly the same. Two thumbprints are never going to be the same. Snowflakes are actually different from each other. I recently had my first snow experience in Sydney and even if up close the snow appeared all white, we know that  under a microscope, one snowflake is actually different from another.

God made us different as well.  He did not make us live in a melting pot. He put all of us in a stew. And the great thing about it is that He accepts us unconditionally–  never mind if we’re weak or strong, plain or beautiful, rich or poor , dull or smart.

No one is ever unlovable before His eyes and He has been a patient and loving God who bears with our sinfulness and stubbornness. Even when we ignore or forget that He exists, He never stops  calling us back.

So if God continues to love us for who we are, why can’t we do that for  each other? Why does a wife want desperately her husband to be like her friend’s husband whom she finds more caring and attentive? Why does a teacher get angry when some of her students do an activity in a way different from what she wants to happen? Why can’t we allow people to be themselves and love them for what they are?

We tend to favor people who act like us and who do the same things  we do. To those who are not “normal” like us, we may not give much importance. They will just be one of millions.

But God is not like most people. To God, we are all special. He sent His Son Jesus to save us, not only a few. His gift of salvation is offered to all. It’s our hearts God sees not how we look, how much money we have or how popular we are.

To quote writer David J. Stewart: “God’s Love is UNCONDITIONAL, which means that it has absolutely nothing to do with the person we love. Thankfully, God doesn’t love us for who we are but because of WHO HE IS. Likewise, we shouldn’t love people because of who they are; but because of WHO WE ARE.” God made us all in His image and likeness.

God teaches us to bear with each other in Romans 15: 1-7: “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up… May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

So, deal well with people as they are even if it’s hard to do. This is your passport to Heaven. Amidst diverse cultures, personalities and principles, allow each other to remain our own persons – like in a stew not in a melting pot.

Why spend useless energy making people change according to what we want? It’s stressful.

The ‘70s long-haired and bell-bottomed generation’s cry was “Peace! Love, man!”  Our youngsters’ today quip, “Chill!”

So just take it easy. Be gentle. Be happy.