Oil and Water or Day and Night

I love family from my nieces, nephews, cousins, down to my brothers and sisters, with the closest one being my own daughter. I was raised with family events where we all got together for great feasts. We played, laughed, and prayed together, yet we were all different.

     My daughter often tells me she had to have been switched at birth because she and I are as different as night and day or as some might say water and oil. Yet, that does not make us love each other less. It just makes us laugh at our many differences. 

     I love to get “dirt under my nails” in the garden, whereas she prefers a nail salon. I get up “on the go” when the sun rises. She, on the other hand, prefers to sleep in. I am an “outside person”. She prefers the inside. I enjoy cooking -most times. I not sure she knows the purpose of her stove. On second thought, maybe she is adopted. (Ha! Ha!) 

     But to put joking aside, my daughter is the one who keeps me young! She is the jewel I brag about with pride. She is the one I talk with daily. She holds my heart! She is smart, tender-hearted, compassionate, intuitive, and a fierce lion when it comes to protecting her mama. And, isn't that what family, although different, is all about! 

     Actually, I do not think we are oil and water. Oil and water does not blend as the day blends into night. We blend! We are willing to accept each other's views, each other's ideas, and learn from them. God created all people different. He gave each person their own special gifts. That is how the world turns, and if we were all willing to consider each other's opinions and differences maybe there would be less anger.  

     I smile when I remember what scripture says. “We have different gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.”  

     It makes me extremely happy that my daughter and I both know the God who created us so unique and in such contrast to each other. I am joyful in the knowledge that we both know the Spirit who distributed our various gifts. We have fun laughing at our opposite ways of doing things and can even love each other through our irritating differences.

Genesis 1:27 "So God created mankind.."  

 

Romans 12:6 “We have different gifts…” 

 

1 Corinthians 12:4 “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.”