Here Are My Thoughts

READ: Proverbs 22

“The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.” (Proverbs 22:2)

In the past few years, I’ve been in some pretty big crowds. Penn State’s last home game in 2016 (over 100k). A Coldplay concert in 2016 (over 70k). Opening night of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017. The line for Space Mountain at Disney World in 2013 (this felt like the biggest crowd of them all…so much waiting!)

The cool thing about being in a crowd of that size is that it gives you some perspective. You can look out, above, below, and around you and see so many people you don’t know-people of different ethnicities, backgrounds, family dynamics, religious convictions, political afflictions, and whatever else usually divides us-and understand that despite all those differences, you all are in the same place for one common purpose. Penn State football allows 107k different people to unite under the same love. The music of Coldplay gets 70k fans to dance, sing, and shout together for 3.5 hours in one arena. There are certain things that bond us together in a world that is so incredibly divisive. 

And what Solomon tells us, in Proverbs 22, is that there is one bond that all humans share-one that isn’t dependent on interests, one that cannot be taken away or lost. In Proverbs 22:2, we see that no matter who a person is, they have been made by God Himself. Rich or poor, black or white, male or female, whatever or whatever-every single person who has ever walked this earth is a creation of one, all-powerful Creator. 

And when we realize that, and act on that-cool things happen. We start seeing that we have a lot more in common than we may realize. We start treating people as people, human beings with hopes and dreams, not means to our end or pawns in our game. Realizing that we all have one common Creator is what allows the rich and poor to meet together, it’s what brings about racial reconciliation, it’s how we come from opposite sides of the aisle and work together for the good of our country and world. 

The Lord is the maker of all of us. Other people are not your enemies. They’re your family.

-Brett