God Creates, Man Classifies

This past weekend, Jeff and I, thanks to the babysitting generosity of my parents, were able to attend part of a marriage retreat that our church held. It was GREAT! A wonderful opportunity to connect with each other, spend time focusing on us, be refreshed by nature as we drove back and forth through the greening countryside to the retreat center, and get to know the other couples who participated.

One of the things that we did was take several "tests"...personality-type tests, how well do you know your spouse tests, etc. I love those things!!! It's so much fun to gain new insights into myself, my husband, and my children through analyzing in such a way.

However, the thought did come to me that God, in His amazing wisdom, knows each one of us so intimately that He considers us as individuals. He doesn't look at my son Josiah and think, "There's a firstborn, so he acts in this or that way." He doesn't look at David and say, "There's a kinesthetic learner, so he belongs in this category." He doesn't put Jeff in the Words of Affirmation group. He relates to us as individuals!

Maybe I'm the only one who's ever done this, but I found myself a bit stressed (just a tiny bit) by my inability to figure out whether I was, in a certain system of classification that we were discussing this past weekend, an auditory or visual or feelings person. I couldn't decide, because I have certain characteristics that fit all three categories...and some of the aspects of each category are clearly NOT me. So what am I???

And then I realized, who cares? :) Although I think these systems of classification are often enormously helpful and I certainly am not going to stop trying to learn about myself and my loved ones, I do realize that in God's eyes, I'm a unique creation. If no one else is like me, then I'm not going to fit into anyone's box, am I?

So with that, here a few pictures of my boys, who don't fit into anyone's box either...

~ Josiah and David pretending to sleep on the steps...why they would choose this spot for their pretend naps is beyond me? don't we have more comfortable places to lay down? :)
~ playing doctor with their stuffed animals...looks like Kevin, the teddy bear on Josiah's lap, is getting a shot in the--ahem--bottom :)