Welcome To A Road Less Traveled

Recently I asked my Pastor to do a sermon on TOO. I grew up in a time and part of the country where roles were not acceptable. That would have been California. It was not politically correct to ask a person if they were butch or femme. One would have been met with a curt answer of "I am NOT into roles," or "I am just me," or "I am androgynous." For me this goes far beyond roles really.. We seem to be in the generation of TOO. Either one is too butch or too femme, too tall or too short, too fat or too thin, and finally too young or too old.

Are we as a society so shallow we cannot look past the surface of others? Or perhaps with age we have distant memories that help define the roles we place on others and the expectations of what we perceive them to be. I cannot help but wonder how often we cheat ourselves of the gifts God has placed before us in other people. Yet we hear "too" so often in our lives.

There is an old saying called "never judge a book by its cover." How great it would be if people would take the time to read the book and then assess. How wonderful it would be if we as a society begin placing our attractions on what a person has to offer inside and their personality. For example, what if we were to fall in love with a person because of their deeds, or the way they treat those around them. Or perhaps even for the different aspects of life each of us have in common. Yet so often as individuals, we will never know who a person is inside because we are caught up in what the cover looks like. Even for some, they may absolutely adore who the person is inside, yet they will tell themselves they cannot be with a specific personality for friendship or relationships because they are "too butch or too femme... Or "too tall or too short." I wonder how many beautiful books of poetry have been tossed as a result of less than appealing covers? The words contained in these books still hold their beauty and splendor...

Perhaps there will come a time in our society whereas the beauty within will hold more importance than external beauty...