Color Blind?

"I'm color blind." An expression I have heard many times. "Color doesn't matter to me. I don't even notice it! A person is a person, we're all human beings. When I look at you I don't see "red or yellow, black or white"...I just see another person." The first time I heard someone say this, my initial thought went something like, "Oh cool, that's great that they aren't prejudiced! What a good way to think." But then as I let what they said sink in I began to question the comment. Should we be "color blind"? Yes, God has created each and every one of us in His image and likeness, and we are all human beings, but hasn't He designed each of us individually? God has given us all unique characterisics...blonde hair, black hair, blue eyes, tall, green eyes, red hair, short, straight hair, brown eyes, curly hair.... We are not often blind to these aspects, but appreciate and compliment God's beautiful designs. Why should skin color be any different? Hasn't He given us each our skin and placed us each in a specific culture?Instead of being "color blind", shouldn't we rather celebrate God's incredible handiwork and see the beauty in every individual?

I have been thinking about this issue of "color blindness" this weekend as I have been given many opportunities to interact with people of different cultures and colors over the past two weeks. God has really been showing me the beauty of His creation, and His creation is so colorful! The richness of the diversity at CAM is overwhelming. Having 11 students in my class representing 9 different countries is incredible! And the staff is just as diverse. I have become friends with Rose, a lady from Singapore, and was blessed to spend today with her, her daughter (who is Chinese I think), and her friend (who is German but lives in France). We all are fairly new to Mozambique, and today we were invited to a Zimbabwean church by a Zimbabwean lady that also works at CAM. If that is not confusing enough, there were visiting Portuguese pastors at the church, and another visiting pastor and his family from Botswana. The service was awesome - I loved it. We sang songs in Swahili, Portuguese, and English. What a beautiful compilation of people in that small building! As I sat there during the service I couldn't help thinking what a shame it would be to be "color blind". How sad to look at the beautiful people all around me and say "I don't see any difference. We're the same...people are people." Yes, people ARE people, but what a blessing to sit in a room full of so many shades, so many rich backgrounds, knowing that God designed it so that we could all be there together, learning from one another and worshipping our Master Artist.