We have moved into the AIM house and have spent the last week in debrief. Debrief is a time for us to process as individuals and a team what has happened in the past month, how we can improve, and start to look to the future. A huge theme for me and my team this debrief was recognizing that we are all created differently. This seems like such a simple concept; everyone knows that individuals are unique. The difficulty lies in living in community with people that are different from me. My response to the differences I see in others is often a desire to change them to be more like me, judge them for their differences, or I tell myself that my way is better. The correct response is obviously to accept the individual just the way they have been created, but that takes so much humility, love, and swallowing of my pride. When I don’t accept others for the way they have been made, division among our team happens, I focus more on myself, and we loose sight of our vision. I feel like our team is finally coming to a place where we accept each other just the way we are; we don’t judge each other for our shortcomings and flaws. I feel so freed up to be myself knowing that my teammates are not trying to change me, judging me, or looking down on me. I really want to be able to look at others and immediately accept them and love them for who God created them to be rather than seeing their differences. Okay, I’ll get off my soap-box now… I just wanted to share a little bit about what I have been learning.
