Judge Not: Diversity

Old Friends (values.com)

Love truly spans all boundaries. I love how diverse this world is. Heavenly Father could have created us all the same. Made up a mold, and put each of us through it. Dumped the same knowledge and experiences into our minds.
But instead, He chose to make us all different. He chose to allow cultures and languages to develop. He chose to have different skin colors, hair colors, and eye colors.

One of my favorite children's books is "The Sandwich Swap." A typical American girl makes friends with an American-Indian girl. They have lots of fun together, until one day at lunch when they each notice that the other girl has a weird looking sandwich. Unwilling to see past that little difference, they stop being friends and eventually lead the whole school in a huge food fight.
In the aftermath of the food fight, the girls look at what happened when they weren't able to accept the other's unique differences. You'll have to read the book to learn the rest. :D

Sadly, this has happened with adults as well as children. ISIS, the KKK, the Nazi-Holocaust are all examples of terrible actions stemming from an unwillingness to see past differences.

One of the biggest lessons both my dad and uncle have taught me is this:

Everyone is a child of God; Judge not.

I know that that is true. We are all God's children. He loves each of us the way we are, and desires that we progress to become even better. But it is not our job to govern that progression. He knows our weaknesses and our neighbors' weaknesses. He can take the judgement from our hearts and help us to see each other has His children. I have felt His love for His children a few times in my life and it filled my soul with light and joy. 

I know that if you pray to feel His love for others, you will be able to feel that love and understand what He wants you to do.