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Ecclesiastes 3:11 I know God has made everything beautiful for its time. God has also placed in our minds a sense of eternity; we look back on the past and ponder over the future, yet we cannot understand the doings of God. (The Voice Translation)  

Today I thought of someone I used to know. Many years ago, my late husband, Daniel, and I had some dear friends who owned what was called a "hobby farm." That term is probably still in use, I imagine. Just enough acreage to have a giant garden in which they grew food for their own use plus enough to sell a little on the side and also have a few animals, mostly goats whose antics were hilarious. The way we became acquainted is that they were the daughter and son-in-law of a woman at our church. They didn't live nearby, but they did live close enough to allow us to get together periodically.

One of the things that made an impression on me the first time that we visited them was the table setting. They had invited us to share a meal and it was a gorgeous sunny day, so they had set up the table outside. Everything about the table setting was very quaint and old fasioned - which really appealed to me - and was quite fitting for where they lived since their home on the little hobby farm was an OLD farmhouse which was very quaintly decorated. The table was covered with two lovely mis-matched old-fashioned tablecloths that overlapped in the approximate middle of the table and the edges were picked up by the occasional breeze that blew by.  

My friend brought the dishes out and I helped by setting the table. I quickly found this took me about twice as long as it normally would have as I looked over each plate individually before setting it down. I couldn't help it - because each plate was beautiful in its own right because - none of them matched one another. The tablecloths didn't match, the dishes didn't match, the eating and serving utensils didn't match, the glasses we drank from didn't match, and the cloth napkins we used - you guessed it - they didn't match either. This made for a very eclectic table setting. It also made for a lovely table setting because each different piece was unique and beautiful even though many of the plates had imperfections. My then new friend explained to me that this was the whole point. She enjoyed each piece of her "set" that wasn't a "set" in ways that she would not have enjoyed an all matching "set."   

There is a parable in this, I think. God has given each one of us unique gifts, unique beauty - we are not the same and even twins have unique traits and characteristics. The variety of skin tones, hair colors, languages, heights, weights, eye colors - these and all of the other unique characteristics that make us who we are should be celebrated for their beauty rather than used as reasons to divide. We should see one another as created by God, in His image, and each one of us loved by God so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for us - and be resurrected for us. One day, all of us who love Him will be truly united around His throne with no divisions among us, for that - and all other sins - will be gone.  

Father God, help me to see every person You have created as You see them, made in Your image, and beloved of the Lord. Increase my love for You, O Lord, and my love for the women and men You have created cannot help but multiply as well. Give me a greater appreciation for the inherent beauty of every person with whom I come into contact and may that appreciation be demonstrated in my actions. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.  

Revelation 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands hands; 10 and they *cried out with a loud voice, saying,

          “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”