Seems I’m about the only person I know who hasn’t watched the T.V. show, “Trading Spaces.” Every time I turn around, someone else is talking about this show, which (in case you are as far out of the loop as I am) gives neighbors a chance to redecorate a room in each other’s homes.
I’ve heard some wild stories from regular viewers of the show — people using glue guns to cover every wall of a room with tacky, artificial flowers, or worse yet, with human hair. I was told that one lady went nuts when she saw how her room was decorated and had to be carried out of the house, kicking and cussing the whole way.
The friend who saw that episode said, “I never watched it again after that because I knew I had seen the ultimate and no other episode could measure up.”
What would possess someone to allow their neighbors to come in and redecorate their homes? I love my neighbors, but I don’t want my house to be a reflection of them – I want it to look and feel like me and my family.
I found a greeting card recently that had an actual photograph of a chicken with a very beautiful plume of peacock feathers harnessed to its back. Inside it read, “I got this on e-Bay.” It’s a perfect picture of some folks I know who are always trying very hard to be someone God did not create them to be.
One friend who has a very take-charge, bold personality told me she used to want very badly to be described as “sweet.” She wanted the epitaph on her tombstone to read, “She was so sweet.” So for awhile, she picked out the sweetest person she knew and tried to imitate that woman’s behavior and reactions. Guess what? It didn’t work! Of course it didn’t work. Artificial sweetness may work in coffee, but only the real thing tastes right coming from people.
We need all kinds of people in this world – laid-back, take-charge, bold, demure, leaders, followers, loud and soft-spoken. The Apostle Paul wrote a wonderful analogy comparing the church to a human body. He said, “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” (1 Corinthians 12:17-19)
Sure, there are some basic foundational truths of the Christian faith that should undergird all we believe and practice. But there is also plenty of room for personal expression. You can hoop and holler and jump the pews during a church service, or sit sedately with your hands folded on your lap. I don’t think God cares if you wear designer fashions or blue jeans, or whether you sing traditional hymns or rock ‘n roll worship choruses.
Your walk with God should be built upon the solid foundation of God’s Word, but it should look like you.
If you’re a chicken, be a chicken … and lose the strapped-on peacock feathers. There’s a place in this world for both chickens and peacocks. (After all, who ever went out for Kentucky Fried Peacock when they were hungry?) If you’re an eyebrow or toenail in the body of Christ, rejoice in your assignment and do your job well.
And don’t think about “trading spaces” with your neighbors. They might be into glue guns and artificial flowers and the whole thing could get real ugly.