Dream Big and Live Large

In our conversation Wednesday morning we talked a bit more about the "Don't System."  This is a major theme of the book of Galatians that Carlos has been leading us through when he is with us.  We have learned that the law/don't system isn't bad in itself but that it is designed for children rather than mature adults.  And that we can't really form good friendships on the basis of what we don't do to people although that can be a good start.

We had a bit of fun exploring the don't system when someone suggested that it includes things like, "Don't pick your nose."  Sheila said that it's ok to pick your nose but just "don't show it to anyone."  We got a good laugh at this.  Carlos pointed out how ridiculous it is for us to try to gain God's approval either through the things we don't do or through the things that we do.

We talked about how there would be no need for the don't system if people would just respect and love each other.  We wondered if there would even be a need for prisons in a world where people had grown up into mature adults.  Carlos suggested that it is not a very good sign in a relationship when we start to say things like, "Don't you treat me like that."

Somehow we got into a bit of a discussion about sibling rivalry.  We talked about how kids will often compete for a parent's approval.  Someone also said that this same thing happens in religious groups that act like they are in a competition for God's approval by either not doing certain things or by doing things better than other groups.  This seemed a bit ridiculous to us and yet we all knew from experience that it happened.

As our conversation wrapped up we turned toward the idea of what kinds of things we could do to be better friends to each other.  Our friend Cheronne told us about how he was confronted the night before by some guys that insulted and physically threatened him because he was different.  He said that he wasn't going to let this bother him because he was going to change the world even though he didn't know exactly how.  We discovered that Cheronne has a non-profit organization called The Who We Are Movement and he also has a FB page called Difference Makers.  His youthful optimism made us smile but we all encouraged him to do just that and to not let the harsh realities of life keep him from dreaming big and living large!