acceptance...

For my Sunday School class (that started in December), I was being bold and my goals to be reached by the end of the term are:

1. I will make friends with some non-chinese christians...
2. I will protect and accept all of God's creations unconditionally...

Today we had some pretty in depth discussion about the second one. So it got my thoughts whirling....

     Can you accept stranger even if you know nothing about them? I believe you can... however, it would require an extremely open-mind because whatever you discover about the person, you must embrace. An enormous roadblock would be judgment. Someone once told me that the way you treat someone, you've already subconsciously judged them. I don't think I'm passing judgment on someone if I feel like they're down and need a joke or they're not feeling well and could use a cup of warm water... if anything, I'm passing judgment on the situation rather than the person. Something that I keep in mind to avoid passing judgment is that everyone is unique; not any two person are exactly identical (not even twins). If that's the case then everyone has different levels of sensitivity, thoughts, fears, experiences, backgrounds, etc. I personally believe that there's always a reason as to why everyone acts a certain way or do certain things whether they be good or bad. I don't think any of us has the right to pass judgment on another person. We most certainly can pass judgment on others (rather natural too) but we shouldn't do so. We are not perfect; we are not God. Who are we to judge when we, ourselves, have so many flaws. Some people might think "if you can identify someone's flaws, doesn't that mean you're judging them?" I don't think so. Recognizing that there's a flaw and taking the next step to associating the individual with a label such as 'bad' is very different.
     Perhaps accepting someone means you also accept the possibility (or even certainty) of being hurt by this person and being able to forgive then let it go. Acceptance does not mean complete comfort but embracing any fears you may have by overcoming that fear with compassion and sympathy.

     To accept someone might mean:

• to accept that they have a different set of beliefs/ customs/ views/ methods of doing things/ background from you (not necessarily that you accept their beliefs as your own)
• to accept that they have the freedom to make their own choices (even if there's a consequence to their decision)
• to accept that you might be hated/hurt/frustrated by them (but you still care about them and make the effort to reconcile)
• to accept all of their 'flaws' (not that you're adapting those flaws to be your own)
• to accept all of their fears (not that you're adapting their fears to be your fears)
• most certainly to be genuine in your acceptance beyond your words or gestures to your heart and mind