The Conclusion of the Matter

This is a wrap-up post for my “I Never” series.  If you missed any of the four post on things I said I’d never do (and now do), you can read them here – Drink Goat Milk (Part One and Part Two), Use Cloth Diapers, Homeschool, and Have a Small Dog.

The logical conclusion to this series is to “Never say never!”  However, that is not the conclusion I want to emphasize.  There are many “nevers” that I have kept in my life.  When I became a Christian, I committed to never turn back from following Christ.  When I got married, I promised to never leave my husband.  The list could go on, but you get the idea – there is a time in life to say “never.”

The point I want to make from the series is this – be gentle with how you judge others in your life.  In each of my examples in the series, life and circumstances had a way of changing my thinking and then my actions.  Your life and circumstances are unique to you.  Other people have different ones, and life will likely lead them to a different place. 

Now, I want to clarify something – I’m not talking about relativism (the belief that different things are true, right, etc. for different people or different times).  As a Christian, I reject the belief that all things are relative.  I believe there are moral absolutes.  The issues I raised in my series – using cloth diapers, owing a small dog, drinking goat milk, and homeschooling – are not moral issues, and I’m not referring to moral issues in this post.  I’m talking about things like whether you drink raw or pasteurized milk, whether or not you vaccinate your children, whether you drive a Chevy or a Ford, or whether those eggs you fried for breakfast this morning were from the local grocery store or from your free range backyard flock.

There are many mundane issues in life where you are going to do things differently than your neighbor, and that’s okay.  Sometimes, once we’ve wallowed through life’s circumstances and reached a conclusion, we pitch a tent in a camp.  Then we hunker down around our fires with others who’ve pitched their tents in our camp and fuel our fires.  We fellowship with those in our camp, and look at those outside our camp and wonder, “Why they would set up camp over there?”  Don’t they know this camp offers the best view of the sunset?  And this camp is protected by oak trees!  We wonder in amazement how anyone would want to camp anywhere else.  And slowly we forget that others may be looking for something different in a campsite.  Perhaps all that matters to them right now is easy access to water.  So, let’s enjoy our campsites, but be willing to take trips to other camps and enjoy the view from their sites too.  You may just decide to prop your feet up and stay awhile.