Colors!

I am sure that you are all aware of the many different levels and kinds of prejudice that we see in our world today. The one that my family frequently deals with is race and color. I have come to find out that some people do not see color and others tend to see it. My mom always told me that I never did see color, even in pre-school I had friends that had different skin colors. When I started dating El my dad was talking to me about dating a black man and I looked at him, in all seriousness, and said, "El isn't black, he's Portuguese"... my dad looked at me with a look like... are you an idiot? I was so sure of myself that when El and I went out again, I asked him if he was black? He looked at me with a look like... are you an idiot? He figured out that I was serious (or an idiot whichever you prefer) and told me that yes he was black. He then explained that his dad is Portuguese and his mom is African. I was very enlightened and asked him why he had never told me this before and he said, "Do I need to tell you that I am a man too?" I won't tell you about the rest of the conversation.... I might not be the quickest but I can figure out when I have been insulted!

Anyways, I guess it's a good thing that I tend to be more oblivious because over the last 13 years we have run into all kinds of people who think differently about our marriage and race, in general. There were very godly christians who counseled us not to get married, but couldn't give any solid reasons for it other then, "you have to think about your children". El wondered how he ever turned out normal (himself being bi-racial) :-) I had family that wouldn't come to our wedding and many other comments and opinions along the way. The best advice El and I received was one day when a very godly man told us, "You know that God only sees 2 races... the saved and the unsaved". I realized that people make too much of color and race, and that I was going to try to see people through Christ's eyes instead... Is this person saved or not? That is what I need to be concerned about... not about what my family looks like and what do people think of me.

I was reminded of these words again today when I was grocery shopping with all the kids. We were at Sam's Club getting some groceries and they always have samples out to try... which I love because it helps keep the kids happy. Well, we stopped at the first one and the man looked at the boys and said, "Your mom needs to be here with you" and the boys just looked at me and I asked him, "Would you like me to hand them the samples?"... thinking it might be something new. He said, "Oh, no... they can help themselves". I thought it was an odd behavior on his part because the boys were very polite when they asked, and waited for the man to offer them something... I didn't think any more about it and went on with my shopping. In a different part of the store the same thing happened again... and again I looked at the lady and said, "I am right here"... confused again at why they kept telling the boys that their mom needed to be there, since I was obviously standing right there. Well, as you have probably picked up on.... sometimes I am a little slow... but the 3rd time this happened the lady gave herself away with the look of shock when again... I said, "I am right here". That's when I figured out that these people were looking for a darker mother and I was confusing them. My pale freckled skin and blond hair weren't exactly screaming out that I am their mother. :-) This doesn't happen when I am with El because people can usually put 2 and 2 together (faster than I can). :-) But, people will think that El is trying to steal my groceries as I am checking out and he walks away with the groceries, or that I have this black man trying to steal my wallet when he reaches in my purse to get money. These situations happen somewhat frequently with El and I and we usually get a good laugh out of them and go on, but when things like these happen, it always makes me realize how many people really do still see color, even good people who have the best intentions.

Me and my colorful crew!

But the words of our friend keep coming back to me... "God only sees 2 races... the saved and the unsaved", and I guess that when this life is said and done.... that is all that matters! It won't make a difference what color we were, how much money we had, or what our jobs were.....