She wandered out of the library, swaying from side to side, swinging her legs out in a rocking motion that allows her to navigate in spite of the stiffness and fragility of her body. The smile on her face gave evidence to her delight at finding a new book to read. “Don’t you feel excited to have a library, a real library here where you can get books any time you like?” she said. Her laboured breathing gave evidence to how hard it can be to walk as she moved into the great room to settle into the oversized couch with her new find.
Chapters to be Read – titles but no labels - this is who we are. How long each book of life will be is not determined by us, nor can we fully know (or want to know) what future chapters our biography will hold. What we can know, embrace, and hold in the Light are the chapters that have already been written. Recently in a Passover Seder Supper, we were reminded that when we dipped the parsley in the salt water, it is the tears and bitter parts of our journey that have moved us across rivers, over mountains and brought us to the degree of freedom our soul can live in today. All are chapters in our book.
Yet perhaps too often we label a person and soon it becomes like a neon sign flashing before us. We walk by, negating the truth that labels are not how Jesus really sees any of us. Love, God’s love, invites us to see each book of life, each named book that is the life of another or ourselves, as a rich treasure to be held, read slowly and with honor. Each chapter that is shared holds pieces of our lives but it is not the whole. Titles may be given to each section or season lived but they are not labels that define who we are.
Our friend sitting reading her book came from a community in Vancouver that has been “labeled” as one of the poorest in our country, with one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS per capita. Other friends live in areas with some of the highest property values in our country and perhaps some will label them as well. At Linwood House Ministries we believe that labels do not fit us as human beings at all. Each of us are an amazing book continually being written into by the Almighty, by our own soul journey, and by all those who pass through our day. There are so many wonderful chapters, all titled but none wear labels – not now, not ever.