Recently as I've been catching up on some online news articles, my attention was captured by a poll being taken in Toronto regarding the acceptance of Islamic prayer time in the public school system.
I do not consider myself to be racist or prejudice in any way shape or form in spite of the things I am about to say. I have people in my life of all ethnicity's, faiths, and sexual orientation. I have no problem with allowing them to share in my life their belief's or reasoning's for choices they make as long as they have the same respect toward me sharing mine.
More often than not disagreeing occurs and that is just fine. Even within the community of same faith believers I find rarely do we agree 100% on our theological standpoints but we can choose to live in harmony - discerning when to debate and when to let it go and love one another where we are each at.
I do have an issue with our once upon a time God-fearing government toying with the idea of allowing for regulated prayer times for those of the Islamic faith in the public schools that all of our tax dollars support when they would not even allow me to say the name of God as a Christian in my own high school growing up.
In the past two decades we have stripped the public school system of all things related to the God of the Christian faith - the belief's in which our country was first founded. And now, because of the political pull that is created from personal rights and because we have to be fair to all those we allow to cross our boarders, we will go out of our way to create space and time for young Muslims to live out their faith within the premises of the public school.
Maybe it's just me, but I struggle a great deal with this issue.
Not because I think their faith choices should be squelched but because ours were and still are.
I struggle with even teasing this movement because not only has Christianity been forced out of the school systems here in Canada, we go out of our way to allow other faiths to consume where we shouldn't have cut in the first place.
Do not take offence to my next statement I simply am speaking the hard reality... I struggle with this because if I were to move to any Islam faith country and walked into their school with my children in tow to request - even in the most humble way - that I would like a place for them to have designated time during the school day for their Christian prayers... Do you know what would happen? We would be disposed of.
That's the cold hard truth.
If I want my children to have a Christ centered faith even here in our own country then I will either have to pay thousands of dollars each year to send them to private Christian school or take on the responsibility of teaching them from home.
Why should it be any different for those of any other faith in this country?
If the decision is made in Toronto, to go out of the way to provide the opportunity for those to express outwardly the demands of Islamic prayer then the same respect ought to be brought back into place for those of every other faith represented by our melting pot of a country.
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/144877--groups-protest-muslim-prayers-at-toronto-public-school
The past month has been a busy one, flying by faster than I anticipated for a month that was supposed to be relatively calm. Bradley's been living in Calgary during the week and I've been delving into my spring cleaning at the apartment and visiting with loved ones both near and far - well, mostly far :)
I spent time on the Island at my brother's home with his family. First vising with my dad and step mom. Followed by the company of Mom, my sister and the precious newest addition of her sweet baby Lyla.
I miss them.
I don't know what I'd do without them in my life.
It was the first time my brother, sister and I sat in the same room for - I am not sure how long it's been.
Life is just like that. Differences in life and choices we make do take people to different places. And sometimes it's just plain hard.
Rarely do we agree on anything, us three...
Often we make choices that hurt each other... actions, words, and sometimes no words at all... not always purposely but I admit, sometimes in spite... We blame the past, we blame each other, we blame those who brought us into the world as if they should have known and chosen differently themselves... We blame the God who could stop all harm but chooses to allow us to be sharpened in only the painfully heated way that iron sharpens iron so that we might learn what it means to rely solely on Him in every situation...
I hate the process. It hurts... I hate how iron has to be held in the flame until it is softened just enough in order to be brought out of the flame and pounded on before chilling it in the cooling water. It's a hard, uncomfortable, painful process that we all go through in this life.
Fortunately, the outcome is incredible. The beautiful creations that we are being molded into is something to behold.
Thank God for His purposeful eye for detail - for He knows exactly how long and how hard and gives us the cooling water of His Spirit just in the nick of time to refresh our souls as we journey this path called life.
Us three, we will never agree fully in this life. I will never understand all the whys but that's okay.
I know that the Holy Spirit dwells amongst us, leading and guiding the process as He needs to for our own sake.
Who am I to challenge the journey our Heavenly Father is directing them through? Who am I to cast my judgements on the sharpening process that He is overseeing? Who am I but another piece of work that is imperfect, unrefined, and in many ways useless?
Yet He's chosen me.
He's chosen each of us
He loves them more than I ever will be able to.
I believe it, I must trust His process.
Just the same, we also have a choice - We have to choose how we respond to each other. Whether we'll respect each other indifferently to agreeing or not. We have to choose to talk to each other and ultimately forgive each other even when the hurt is deep and our pride says we're the victim. We have to choose how we love each other. Will it be love based on our agreeing or will it be love unconditional because that is what love actually is.
It's our choice.
I love my family. I love them with all my heart and NEVER want to change a single hair on their heads for they are beautifully and wonderfully created in HIS image.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:31-32
