Friday, May 17, 2013

The Perfect Salad

From a very Platonic logical view, there can only be one perfection.  Any variation from that perfection would be different, and therefore flawed.  I don't believe in that view of perfection.

It would be like saying that there is a perfect salad ingredient.  Therefore, the perfect salad would consist entirely of that perfect ingredient.
I remember one of my children thinking that if you made a choice, it would necessarily be your favorite.  For example, if you chose strawberry ice cream over other flavors, it must be your favorite flavor.  As an adult, though, I see things differently.  Maybe mint ice cream is my favorite, but I don't want mint every time.  Sometimes I'll choose other good flavors for some variety.  I don't eat just one favorite flavor of ice cream.  Similarly, for the perfect salad, you need to have something besides just one ingredient.  The perfect salad would have a variety of good ingredients that might not be all that great when eaten exclusively, but together make superb flavor combinations.

I think the same is true of any group of people.  In the Church, if we stick with some cookie-cutter view of perfection, it would be like a salad with only one ingredient.  We need people of all sorts to make a perfect Church.  When the Lord asks us to be one, he is not asking us to be the same.  He is asking us to combine our efforts, talents, skills, and energies like the flavors of a salad, to value every individual in the group, to develop charity toward one another.  Then we will become perfect, as we celebrate our differences.

What does this mean to me?  I think it means that the church would not be perfect without members of differing orientations.  We are all essential parts of the perfect salad.  And to be one, we need to be truly appreciative of those differences.

Please understand that I don't believe in diversity just for diversity's sake.  For example, I wouldn't expect us to celebrate differences in obedience to the commandments.  That would be like making a salad with some fresh lettuce, some limp discolored lettuce, and some rotten moldy lettuce.  That's not the diversity we desire.  Rather, we want a diversity of experiences, of thoughts, of questions, of opinions, of skills, of hobbies, of families, of senses of humor, and so forth.  We need to not just tolerate differences, but become one... the perfect salad.

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