Culture and Faith

The 2011 AIM class just got back from the annual Mexico trip.  A good portion of them (my dear friends... I started with this class but had to leave early) commented upon their return about how eye-opening it was, and how much more they appreciate other cultures now... That was an eye-opening reminder for me.

I often forget that most people have to be taught to appreciate other cultures.  I take it for granted sometimes that I grew up in family that had two cultures. I actually sometimes forget this, haha. For real, being surrounded by other cultures is something that is just normal to me.  Those in that situation or with a family member with disabilities can more than likely relate to this.  It's like my mom's wheelchair... I grew up with it around, and often don't think about it as being different, because when you're exposed (to anything really) from a young age it becomes a normal part of life.  As much as I wish I could say I do... I don't speak the same language as my grandparents.  So even a language barrier seems normal to me.  But for others that didn't grow up around it, it's harder.  It's easy to fall into a trap for thinking I have a lot to teach them and they have a lot to learn, but forget that we have just as much to learn from them. We can fall into the trap of stereotyping others and forgetting that there is so much we can learn out of this world.

But change this up. Think about it from a faith perspective... those of us that grew up going to church, and grew up as Christians can often forget and take it for granted. It becomes ingrained in us and become normal... and just like I don't have to try to appreciate other cultures, we can forget with our faith that we always have to be trying.  That even if it comes easily, we still need to constantly be trying. We should never fall into the trap of "I have nothing more I can learn from this." because like with cultures... that's where the problems start. We can fall into the trap of our faith suffering because we think we know whats best when the reality is we still have so much to learn.