Last week I was YOU Peopled!
22 x 30 watercolor on paper by Gwen Meharg
in the Park Cities Presbyterian Church parking lot.
A woman 10 years older than myself with salon blond hair and an old wine-skin mind-set felt obliged to YOU PEOPLE me as I was leaving the parking lot after delivering art.
I use the old wine-skin metaphor for two reasons. She looked like she had spent a goodly amount of time poolside and/ or in a tanning bed. Secondly, her old-time religious ideas were so firmly set in stone that she felt obligated, or justified, in voicing her disdain for me.
Her designer clothes, jewelry, and very expensive car all said money, money, money.
I am more than okay with people who have money, money, money. Some of them buy art. Some of them lavish their earnings on charities. I hope to join their ranks some day!
Money is not the problem.
Money is not the root of evil.
Money is a construct that works quite well.
And it is way easier than hauling around chickens, precious metals, and beads.
What one becomes when one has a good amount of money is where the potential problems lay.
I know “salt of the earth” people with lots of money.
I know “salt of the earth” people with very little money.
Money, having or not having, is not the problem.
The problem resides in the heart.
On a beautiful sun shiny morning last week this woman spoke from her heart and labeled me – wait for it! – liberal.
Her presence in the church parking led me to believe she was quite possibly a follower of Jesus. A sister in Christ.
Her mouth and judgmental words and attitude implies otherwise.
The exact words out of her holier-than-thou mouth were,
“YOU PEOPLE SCARE ME!”
With my eyes popping out in disbelief, I demanded,
“WHO is YOU people?”
Bottle Blond with her right hand raised to her heart and her fingers fluttering spit an explicative, “Liberals!”
And she stomped off in a self-righteous huff. I really wanted to say something ugly but I had been YOU PEOPLEd!
My privileged middle-class white lady position had spared me until that moment. It stung.
What set her off?
My “Black Lives Matter” bumper sticker.
I ordered “Blue Lives Matter” bumper sticker over a month ago and was going to put them side by side. My “Blue Lives Matter” bumper sticker has not come. The Blue Lives Matter bumper sticker people stole my money.
Want to know what is WRONG WITH CONSERVATIVES?
I can clear up a great deal of political turmoil toot sweet.
What is wrong with “conservatives” is that I am no longer considered among them.
How does one get more conservative than me?
I am a 55 year old white woman. Southern Baptist until Easter 2014. College educated at BAYLOR, a Baptist University. Married 35 years to the same guy who I met in the marching band. Did you catch that? The MARCHING band! David and I both played trombone for God’s sake. Six children. SIX!!! Two cats. Two horses. One large dog. A fish pond, a miniature cricket farm, and a cabinet full of tiny tarantulas. I live in a suburb of a suburb. I scrub horse buckets every Sunday morning. Wear spurs in public. Drive a 21 year old conversion van. Don’t smoke. Don’t chew. Have friends who do. Seldom drink. Own a gun. Get caught with a knife in my purse every time I go to the airport. Actually READ my bible. Pray. Attend church regularly. Read out loud to ALL my children. I have serious body issues but am unwilling to give up popcorn or pie. I home schooled for TWENTY-TWO years!
HOW MUCH MORE CONSERVATIVE CAN YOU GET?!?
The problem is not money.
The problem is not how conservative or how liberal a person is.
The problem is as it always has been, with the heart.
It is so much easier to go to church than to love.
It is so much easier to label than to listen.
I have written and painted about the lie of the easy answer.
You people-ing is an easy answer that covers a world of lies.
Money is not the problem.
Race is not the problem.
The heart is the problem.
Now I am gonna toss out a scripture and see if it sticks:
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…
It is not about conservative versus liberal.
It is not about haves versus have nots.
It is about love.
It has always been about love.
It will always be about love.
Who you love.
What you love.
YOU PEOPLE,
you have a grand week
and may love inspire you
as you pursue life well-loved and well-lived.