Labels

I would like to challenge you this morning.

The poem in this blog, some of you have already read.

I wrote it my first week out in Victoria in July and had fun with the title and in getting my facebook friends to look at me a little different.

And that, right there, is my challenge to you today.

Not every situation or person is as we may perceive them to be. 

We all carry or wear labels. Sometimes permanent ones that we are proud to display and sometimes ones that are very temporary. And sometimes labels that we want to, try real hard to, would do almost anything to get rid of but seem to stick no matter what we do or say or how we change.

Mother, Son, Friend, teacher, broker, biker, dancer, daughter, native, student, unemployed, adulterer, Caucasian, African American, slow, black, father, neighbor, nurse, murderer, drunk, counsellor, homeless, wise, educated, dysfunctional, broken, thief, speaker, Asian, president, lover, challenged, volunteer, gifted, preacher, tourist, christian, atheist, in-law, out-law, wife, obese, engineer, skinny,  and the list goes on.

Often time the labels are given to us by others. Others who think they know us. Others who see us as they want to see us. Others who only hear what they want. Others who are quick to judge, quick to assume and quick to categorize.

Will you accept my challenge today? 

Not every situation or person is as we may perceive them to be.

Will you take an extra minute to listen to what is being said; take an extra moment to hear what is NOT being said?

Will you open your mind a little more and your heart a little bigger? Will you look past what others have labelled and look for the truth. Dare to label differently. Dare to accept quicker. Dare to judge less. Dare to give a second chance. Dare others the freedom to be all that they are intended to be. Dare you to look at you differently. Dare others to look at you differently.

This picture is a well known illusion.....
What do you see;

 an old women or a young lady?

*insert title to poem here*


I lay in your embrace for too long,
Your passionate heat has left its mark upon my skin and lingers with my senses!
There is no hiding of my sin; You made sure all would see my wickedness!
I suffer alone, no one can touch me!
And In my pain you leave me on my own,
and have no compassion for the wounds you have left!
We have been here before, you and I,
But then, I could go back to my husband,
with regret upon my lips and repentance in my heart!
To him who laid his soothing, gentle hands upon my wounds
and bathed my body with forgiveness as he coaxed healing,
removing the wounds you left me with!
But here, where I am alone, I suffer alone;
waiting for healing to come from within.
Waiting for forgiveness from self destruction
and vowing repentance; when your passion once again
fades all sense of responsibility and desire takes over...
to lay in your embrace again.


Blessings to you today as you look at your world and the people in it just a little bit different than first perceived.  ........................Go ahead, I dare you!

♥ LR

(My title to the poem?  Mr. Sun......)