Gray Hair Isn't A Sign of Maturity

 I’ve been thinking about maturity as of late. What is the most evident sign of it?

I think it’s the ability to be teachable. Where you can accept corrections and learn. That’s definitely a sign of humility. 

I recently got a book titled Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully In A World of Difference. It’s a collection of essays from different Christians from different walks of life. A few reviewers ripped it apart as anti-white. 

As I read, I did see some criticism, along with different perspectives from mine. It was things I’ve been tangentially aware of or didn’t know about at all. I was learning.

While some issues are black and white, society is morally gray because it’s run by morally gray people. 

Who are these people?

Everyone. None are good (Romans 3:22-24), and most aren’t all bad. Even cannibals who eat their neighbor rather than love them still love their kids—shades of gray. 

I read this quote from Dan John’s Wandering Weight’s newsletter and copied it. 

“Unconditional positive regard means offering compassion to people even if they have done something wrong. A therapist practicing unconditional positive regard would respond with compassion to a person in treatment who may have gambled away their savings, lied at work, or mistreated a friend. It is striving to respond with understanding rather than contempt for the individual.

However, unconditional positive regard does not mean unconditional acceptance. We should be careful to not enable others to continue to act in harmful ways out of our desire not to hurt their feelings. Rather, having positive regard means treating people as fallible human beings regardless of what they do, even if we don’t like what they’ve done.

Whereas judgment and shame elicit defensiveness, acceptance fosters safety, which invites honesty and self-exploration. It’s offering the sort of grace we wish others would offer us when we fail.” Source is here.

No matter what side of the divide you sit on, you’re not in a position of superiority. A conversation over a meal is better than a lecture or SHOUTING IN ALL CAPS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. 

With a morally gray society, the potential for abuse is ripe. Even the angels who actually saw God fell. 

Don’t be surprised when fallen humans fail. But if they’re teachable, you can work with them.