Jonathots Daily Blog
(2362)
Three huge bombs land on each and every one of us, exploding across our consciousness, leaving the fallout hanging in the air as we try to piece together the substance of what we call our “adult life.”
Peers, parents and puberty.
Long before we have the intensity, intelligence and ingenuity to separate right from wrong, smart from dumb, spiritual from ridiculous and cool from uncool, we are inundated and pressured by these three weapons, to submit to the “common norm.”
With our peers, our emotions are tangled, frustrated and jumbled by insecure fellow-travelers, who are groping for superiority, often by trying to make us feel less. In the process we develop deep-rooted insecurities, which bring bag and baggage to travel a lifetime.
Then there’s our parents. Although they do their best, their best is contingent on what has been done to them. Obviously, that falls into various degrees of miscommunication. Yet when these people hold the keys to your clothing, your housing, your food and your self-confidence, you tend to listen to them very intently.
And to top it off, here comes puberty. For a wonderful eleven years of life, men and women exist as equals–playing, laughing and working side-by-side–when suddenly they are grabbed by the pimp of nature, thrown to the ground and given an overdose estrogen or testosterone, placing them in a stupor with one another, often creating volatile conclusions.
The greatest thing you can do for yourself is admit you are being held hostage by this trio of conspirators.
So what is your next step?
1. I am prejudiced.
If you cannot admit this, you will never be able to understand that none of us possess a world view until we pursue it on our own. It is not taught in the classroom, it is not passed along in Sunday school and it certainly isn’t required in the locker room.
Learn the difference among these three words: prejudice, bigotry, racism.
- Prejudice: “I was taught that people are different.”
- Bigotry: “I believe people are different.”
- Racism: “I am so confident that people are different that I will teach others.”
If we focus on the difference in people, we quietly assume our own superiority. Once that is propagated, war is inevitable.
2. You are prejudiced.
Yes, I need to cut you some slack. You had a blitzkrieg of the same bombings that hit me. I need to give you a chance to discover your prejudice even if it happens to be against me.
The definition of mercy is the realization that the person standing before me is just as confused as I am, and should be given as much time for growth as I would request.
3. Let’s do a rewrite on the script.
Yes, your life has been scripted. From the time you were a tiny tot, people were telling you what you should be, how you should do it and when you should do it. Being able to reject all of these “voices in the wilderness” is virtually impossible.
Rewrite the script.
And the only way to do that is to purposefully turn away from the crowd, tune your ears from the shouting and listen to your own heart and the Spirit of God.
You cannot become anything until you discover what you already became.
This is the true essence of maturity: putting away peers, parents, puberty … and all the other childish things.
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Jonathots Daily Blog 
