My soul is like my garden. The weeds of stereotypes are all over the place. How easy I judge. Just when I thought I’ve pulled out racism with roots and all, it just grows back again. Life is tricky when you try to keep it organic.
Humphrey works in our garden. My first impression of him was not good. All the stuff my culture (wrongly) taught me about poor black South-Africans came to the surface the first time I saw him.
Then he got to work.
And all the labels disappeared.
And his true character broke through my prejudice.
Humphrey has green fingers. He is intelligent. He has a humble soul, but a proud posture. He is kind to my wife and good with our dogs. He is eager to work and up for any challenge relating to plants, compost, bone meal and big rocks.
I bet when it comes to everyday life, Humphrey and I, are brothers from different mothers. We have the same needs, longings and big picture prayers. Like the common weeds in my beddings,
the difference is only skin deep.
All I got to do is keep pulling the bastards out.
2 comments:
Yes... dig deep Fourie. Let's cut to the core and pull these bastards out! Root and all! This is also something that I struggle with, that God is working really hard in my life with.
There are days that I am making such strides, days where I firmly believe in only one race, the "human race" and that skin colour is merely the result of natural selection within a populace. Sadly, there are also days where I'm the exact opposite, where the thoughts and things I speak are everything to be ashamed about.
Then I think of Jesus... a jewish man walking all day in the sun. I imagine him with dark, but short curly hair. Because of the traveling he seldom gets to bathe, so he smells of dust and sweat. I wonder how many people will lift the eyebrows if that Jesus should walk into a church... I wonder how many would think that this man "should rather go worship with His own people". The Architect of life and love not welcome in his own church.
Have we really come further than the middle ages? Are we really so "evolved"? There are days that I stand in wonder that God tolerates us at all.
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