Devotion

Acceptance

Have you seen the social media post of 2 young boys who received the same haircut? They were wanting to trick their teacher who, they believed, would no longer be able to tell them apart. The boys did not see their difference in hair colour, their difference in skin colour or their difference in facial features. These best friends only saw the same haircut. It is a beautiful example of the way that children are able to see each other without stereotypes and expectations that are placed on people at times.

Source: The Telegraph

This week, our Bible reading calls on us to ‘Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God’. This Bible reading comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans and is found in chapter 15, verse 7. 

When we accept each other without prejudice, we put aside the judgements that can so easily be placed on people. Sometimes, these judgements can affirm the thinking that we may be feeling is true for ourselves… feelings that we are too fat, too old, too tall, too short, too loud, too quiet, too… we could keep going on. Feeling judged can stop us from doing our best and reaching our potential.

I pray that we can continue to support our students and ourselves to accept each other for who we are. In doing so, we can encourage each person to celebrate the uniqueness within them and, in doing so, encourage them to embrace their uniqueness themselves. While it is an aim that each person at GGLPS feels a part of our community, we know that as humans, we can stumble and lose sight of what is important. Other things can get in the way and we can let each other down.

I encourage each member of our community to truly accept and celebrate our commonalities and indifferences because, in doing so, we bring praise to God.

Jayne Zadow

PYP Coordinator