Saturday, November 8, 2014 The beginning place. Acceptance and approval is not the same thing. People of faith should practice acceptance. “I was lost, and was found,” “I was a stranger and you took me in,” “I was into myself at the expense of all others, and still you accepted me.” Acceptance is the beginning place. Eugene O’Neill in his play, The Iceman Cometh, has a character who is as sorry as sorry can be. I remember one of our professors in seminary pointing out, that the wife of the sorry fellow keeps accepting and forgiving the altogether wayward husband. He speaks a line to this effect: “You need to stop this insane accepting and forgiving. It’s absolutely killing me.” Killing his ‘bad,’ we can hope and pray. Some think that if you are an accepting person or group, that it follows that you approve of everything those who are accepted believe and do. If that were the criteria for admittance to families, relationships, groups, churches, I’m afraid there wouldn’t be any of any of those! Getting lunch the other day, we walked through one of those buffet lines where the employees serve your plate. A young woman was working ‘behind the line’ who had severe acne. An older woman behind me said to her, “Thank you for such a nice portion. You are a lovely young girl.” I wish you could have been there to see the change on the expression of that young lady’s face. It was more than a “you made my day,” look. It was a ‘you saw more in me than I’m seeing in myself at the moment.’ If you were to ask the graceful compliment-payer if she liked acne, what do you think she might say? I’ll bet she would say, “Of course not. But there’s more to anyone than acne.” This may sound like pretty ‘base’ conversation, but it’s not. In any honest acceptance of another there is a definite ‘more to that girl/guy than…” Most of us spend life and share love with human beings we accept, but who also represent elements of belief, personality or behavior that we don’t like—agree with, or approve. The grace thing is ‘acne and all.’ The grace and love thing may even add more: Acceptance and perhaps later, even affection. It’s really tough to think of any serious human relationship where acceptance, forgiveness are not absolutely required. Across the years, I’ve often touted that ‘Union;” the AF of L (Acceptance, Forgiveness, and Love!) Note that ‘Union’ and the abbreviations are spelled with capital letters. They ‘capital’ because they are always of God, and are indeed a beginning place. Always love, always, Keith
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 12:36:38 +0000
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