Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Beauty in Uniqueness

Pickens, South Carolina. What a wonderful place, where you can walk around a flea market from 8 am till noon and still not make it to every booth. My entire family can agree with me on this one, there is no better place to people watch then the Pickens flea market that takes place every Wednesday.

My favorite part? Watching my grandmother barter for a deal for fake flowers with a man who doesn't have a shirt on while she is wearing all her best jewelry, her make up done as she does every day and her hair perfect, as always. My dad's favorite part? The boiled peanuts. My mom's favorite part? The blue-grass/folk/anyone is welcome, band that plays out front of the bathrooms and "food court" area. We always sit for a little bit, taking a break from all the bargains to watch the band. There's always a singer and guitarist, normally a banjo player, and there's always seems to be a man in overalls who constructs an instrument out of a stick, a bucket, and a string connecting the two.

It was while we were taking a break here one year, who knows how long ago, that Grammie made a statement I will never forget. She said, "Is it amazing that with 2 eyes, 1 nose, 1 mouth, and 2 ears, that God created so much diversity in humans?" I still think about it today, how truly amazing it is. God has done some amazing things, but man did He do a good job making all of us unique!
I love though, that within a family he has held some things constant. He has the ability to give me my great grandmother's red hair and make me look undoubtably like a MacDonald. Whereas my sister looks unremarkably like my mother when she was her age. God has given us these similarities to each other as a reassurance I believe. To know we are part of something, part of a family. A reminder that we didn't just come from nowhere.

Sometimes I look around the group of people I'm with and I'm just in awe. Kind of how I was talking about a couple posts ago about fearing God's ability, this is a perfect example. I love looking around and seeing my friends are so incredibly different, how could I not believe in the power of God? Something has drawn me to these people, made me want to get to know them better. That's God's doing.

Anyway, the next time you are around a group of friends, take a look around, what drew you to them? What about them is unique to only them? And the next time you are with your family, what similarities has God given you? Don't take them for granted, He did it for a reason.


1 comment:

  1. Hay, I like the fired pork rinds better than the boiled peanuts but mom keeps an evil eye out as we walk past that hot tub of oil and frying pork fat. Darn, I can smell and taste them now:-) I like diversity...:-)

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