Grey Matters

 I have been binge watching a show on Netflix that has deep character development. The heroes have good hearts, but they also have dark deceptive acts that they commit. The villains have committed some of the grossest crimes and yet, the writers have created stories that build goodness and kind acts that the villains also commit. It can be mind-boggling, but it can also be comforting to recognize that all of us stand with grey matters. 

As a writer, I have discovered that all of my characters need to have flaws and good characteristics. The apostle Paul struggled with this and revealed it in Romans 7:15. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.” We all struggle with the same struggle Paul had. We all want to do and be good, but then we stumble and sin, and we commit the exact sin that we observe in others and despise that they have. 

It’s impossible to be perfect. Jesus is the only one who has walked this earth and was a perfect sinless human being. We can look to him for our help and our rock. It’s frustrating to connect with people who see the flaws and good in human built institutions. It just may be that we forget that humans have created and built these institutions and entities; therefore, they are flawed, and yet they contain good. 

I actually like the book Frankenstein. The reader is conflicted throughout the entire story of who the real monster is. The writer was conflicted in her own life with her flaws and goodness. She struggled her entire life to know true love and to be loved for who she was and not what others wanted her to be. Most readers can relate to her characters in this book as we all have the same struggles of wanting to be loved for who we are and not what others project on us. No one can live up to their social media persona. We all become disappointed in people. We all have disappointed people. The more we can empathize the better we will all become. 

Let us all give grace to everyone. To people that we know and love, may our grace and mercy extend the most and may we listen to their hurts and questions and begin to understand their viewpoints that are different than the ones we have. To people that we lead, may we give grace and room for them to be able to question us with our viewpoints, so that we can become better people and leaders. To those we only connect with on social media or mere acquaintances in life, may we extend grace and love to their viewpoints and instead of arguing and debating, we listen and move forward. 

As we all move forward, may we begin to see people for who they are. They have flaws. They have good acts. If we polarize people into good and evil, then we refuse to see our own good and evil. I have to continue to believe that Jesus is more powerful than any human being and He can step in and change lives. I’ve seen him do it many times. Jesus will always be better than any human being. May we lean on him and listen to his words more and more every day.