Skip to main content

Pigeon Holing People

I think some people have one identity. Ok, that sounds weird. All of us only have one identity, though many of us entertain several inner voices. What I mean is that while each of us have many hobbies and interests, there are some people who get pigeon holed. One of their interests becomes the showcase that people know them for.

Sometimes it's a job they have. For some people, it's their haircut. Whenever I think of Billy Ray Cyrus, which is often, I think mullet. Sorry Billy Ray, but I do.

The same thing happens with people in the Bible. I think I can guess the words you would associate with certain characters. After all, what is Samson without his hair, Jonah without his great big fish, David without Goliath or Moses without his burning bush?

But, just like us, these people from the Bible were deepr than that. And there is one character that I think I get more now that I have applied this truth.

If I were to mention Sarah, you might simply think, wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Oh, but there's so much more. Don't any of the other parts of her story fascinate you?

She worries about God's promise coming rue, so she tells Abe to sleep with Hagar, her maidservant. Abe does and Hagar gets pregnant. No Sarah is mad at Hagar and mistreats her. What's up with that, Sarah? It was your idea.

How about Sarah laughing when she hears God talking? Besides being inappropriate to doubt God's word in such an audible way like that, she lies about it. Really?

I guess it really shouldn't surprise us that Sarah was an up and down kind of lady with her emotions. For starters, she was in the middle of one roller coaster ride of a life. You try moving from everyone you know because God tells your husband that your family is going to be a great nation, then you watch as wrinkles form faster than your family. How about getting to be a 90-year old first-time mom? Yeah, that might cause some problems.

I think the real issue lies in how we see her. We recall how she birthed Isaac at the age of 90. We cringe at the thought of our grandparents having a baby, say 'ewww', and then read on about Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau. We remember the wrong parts when considering Sarai.


Here is where my perception of Sarah changed. Early on, we're told that she was stunningly hott, with two t's. The Bible doesn't say the part about the t's, but we're told that Abraham had her lie, twice, about being his wife. He was so scared that other men would kill him just to be with her. That's hot.
This piece of information changes everything. We no longer need be surprised if Sarah is moody one moment and laughing the next. Ask any man and he'll tell you that all the beautiful women are a tad more difficult to deal with.

Don't blame me ladies. It's in the Bible.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d