The ugly beautiful....

The ugly beautiful.....

Why are we so scared of the unknown…? Of the ugly…?

This site was the favorite part of my walk around town... An old beautiful farm where I used to talk to the cows as I passed by... Now it's under construction to build government housing for an impoverished community that lost their homes a few years ago due to an earthquake. Everyone I've talked to about it is really upset... Scared of "these people" moving into our neighborhood.

"Why?" I ask....

Is it because they're different? Just because they're poor? Because they could bring crime to the area? Why do people respond this way to the unknown? …to something that’s different? Why do I respond this way?

Why did my youngest brother at 5 years old plug his ears and scream when he heard another language because he can't understand it...? Why are we so terrified of different? 

When living in the states, I worked in some underprivileged communities with the Latino immigrant community and received similar responses to people when I told them where I was working... Everyone was fearful for me to be in those areas and with "those people."

Why though...?

Why is it we fear the unknown? Fear "these people" like they're some other species from another planet or something...

Why do we fear what may look ugly or poor or scary on the outside without really taking a look?

Aren't we all just human living the lot we've been given... Why do we fear the different and look down on it as if it’s something ugly and unworthy?

Aren't we all just humans created in the image of our Creator? Then why is it that we can't see each other as equals or just as another reflection of our Creator?

I want to challenge you to take a deeper look.

….to pray for God’s eyes to see people for who they truly are. 

Why do people respond to this construction in anger and fear, instead of joy and excitement that our brothers and sisters are going to have new homes finally after three years....?

Why can't we take a deeper look at Lonsdale as a place where other humans are living and striving to live the best they can in the life they've been handed…?

Why can't we look at Upstate South Carolina and see the hundreds of families working hard to make enough money to send home to their families, so they aren't starving…?

These areas might look a little ugly from the outside or even the inside and there might even be higher crime rates... But does that mean that we're not called I love them...? Because isn't that all they're doing is crying out for love? For life? 

So I want to challenge you to take a deeper look and pray for God to give you his perspective on whatever your "government housing construction site" is, whatever it is that seems ugly, unworthy, scary, unknown to you, and see the beauty in it... 

“Because somewhere, underneath the grime of this broken world, everything has the radiant fingerprints of God on it. Seeing the world with Jesus’s eyes, we have the astonishing opportunity to daily love the unlovely into loveliness….” – Ann Voskamp (aholyexperience.com, author of One Thousand Gifts)

See that God’s making it lovely!