Analyze This...and that...and them

I am a thinker...not a talker. I like to analyze people. I was one course short of getting a minor in Psychology and have had just enough Abnormal psych to be dangerous. I like to put people in boxes - it makes me feel better, feel like I have a handle on them. I even do it to myself. I know my Myers-Briggs type (ISFJ) and have tried to guess others'. I am neither right or left-brained, but center-brained which keeps me in a constant state of conflict, trying to meet the demands of both my creative and logical sides. I am a conservative. I birthed a Hedonist, a Post-modern, and a Terrorist. My husband is a talker. He is an "E" on the Myers-Briggs scale. He isn't in any of the boxes that I am in. My kids fall into all different categories, some of the most difficult being those that their dad is in! People who fall in a certain box, I deal with in a certain way. It's kind of a formula. This system serves me fairly well, until I encounter someone who doesn't fit in a box. Every once in a while I come across an individual who leaves me at a loss as where to put him or her. I remember very clearly when the wife of a college friend called me up and asked me to go pottery painting with her. I quickly labelled and boxed her, only to find that she actually genuinely wanted to get to know me. Now she is one of my dearest friends. I consistently feel like I don't deserve a friend like her! When my husband became a true follower of Christ, He switched boxes on me. That was even harder. I liked some of the boxes he switched from. I stood (and some days still stand) in the midst of boxes pulled from their shelves, holding him in my hands and wondering exactly where he belongs. I have a cousin who was in the Catholic and liberal boxes, who now doesn't fit really in either. The problem with boxes is that there really isn't room for people to move. It quickly disintegrates from being an orderly system into chaos and frustration. There's no room for change. The Newsboys say it best in their song "Shine." (What you should have heard when you first arrived!)


And try as you may, there isn't a way
To explain the kind of change
That would make an Eskimo renounce fur
That would make a vegetarian barbecue hamster
Unless you can trace this about-face
To a certain sign.


The Lord who created us all, who made us with and knows all of our imperfections, weaknesses, strengths, struggles, etc. not only allows us to change, but desires that in us, as we are conformed to the image of His Son. Either we would have to be perfect at birth, be made perfect at the moment of salvation, OR allow ourselves AND those around us room, time, opportunity, and grace to change. And sometimes it is a painful process. Let me give you an example. I love food. I mean, LOVE food. Anything fatty or fried. Red meat, sweets, carbs...love it all. The Lord has gradually brought people into my life to show me the benefits of caring for His temple, my body, and the little temples around me. I would love to say that I have embraced it willingly and with joy. It's been more like wailing and gnashing of teeth....I was not originally happy with this, and I honestly think that part of it was that I felt like I was losing part of what made me "me." I went into Whole Foods and almost had a nervous breakdown. The Lord was switching my boxes. Nikki didn't go into the "Whole Foods shopper" box. And I still don't. But I'm learning that there are really only 2 boxes. Those who are diligently seeking to become like Christ and glorify God in all they do (believers) and those who aren't (non-believers). And Scripture tells me how I should interact with them. So all this time I've been making it WAY more complicated than I needed to. Imagine that....