“Feminists” and “Chauvinists” I read those two contrasting words together in the first pages of a book, Story by Stephen James. A little further on the word “equality” appeared. I like the way James slipped that one in. He says, “The image of God is found in our unity as well as our uniqueness. There’s a great equality here. A completion of each other. Our fullness reflects his fullness.” *
James doesn’t offer to unpack the image of Ying and Yang that pops into my head. He leaves that idea alone. Nor does he launch into a politically correct reinterpretation of the phrase ‘separate but equal’ or the phrase ‘all men are created equal.’ The preponderance of cultural archetypes and trivia generated by his words are left for the reader to know and ponder. I think I am going to enjoy this book.
Equality, and fullness, and uniqueness, in my opinion and in my thoughts today, do not reside in pandering to lowest common denominators. If no one is more excellent than another, then excellence ceases to be, and we are none of us unique then. Our equality becomes tedium.
Conformity and non-conformity fail alike in their inability to represent the subtle curve of fullness. The satisfaction of a life lived abundantly by knowing and following rules, then stepping out of the box to lead away from the pack, to find a narrow path less traveled. There is a balance to fullness.
We are not, any two of us, the same person. Each of us unique, through to our cellular level. But we are encompassed by the fullness of our Maker -- even when we stand defiant on the inadequate line twining between two curved shapes called Ying and Yang.
Do you represent yourself with one side of the coin or the other? Do you choose to be separate or choose to be equal? Do you choose to align yourself with all men, with all humanity, with all children of God? There is where our equality is found. Equally unique. Equally full. Equally guilty. Equally loved.
Equal before the throne.
* James, Steven; Story; p.22; Fleming H Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group; March 2006
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