Yesterday was one of my longest days of the year. Early and dark driving to jury duty, and then to mid-week Bible study to start a new Wednesday mini-series. It was a day of go-go-go! It’s been about eight days of no let-up or slow-down. How do people do it like this all the time? I just dunno! Perhaps it’s my age speaking to my mind. “You’re too old for this!”
Sitting in the Jury selection room where we were signed in and awaited a courtroom assignment, we had to watch a couple of introductory videos that told us about our judicial system and how we were selected. Of all my adult years, this was the one time I felt that I was destined for the box, and nothing I could do truthfully would allow me to “escape.” That’s what we all seem to want to do. Escape. Not be called. Enjoy the experience, but get to go home and return to whatever is standard.
Not this time.
I listened closely to the videos more than I watched them. The words lingered in my mind. The responsibility of the opportunity weighed me down. I was chosen for this day by whatever hook or crook we all surmise, so let’s make the best of it. Learn from it. My spirit cried out. Don’t waste the experience. Be involved. Use it for good. Think it through. Be good at it.
One video dealt with our biases. We all have them. It’s inevitable. From the youngest days of our lives, we learned to choose between the options put before us. Words spoke to us in the cradle, around the playground, from the front of a classroom, or even at a family reunion. University classrooms may be the worst because suddenly, everything you thought you were is being challenged by many words and ideas from their own biases.
We shape and form our biases honestly.
Why do I like Dr. Pepper and will refuse Pepsi? I have my suspicions, but a bias could make me walk away from someone who did not enjoy my doctor experience. Why do I almost refuse consistently to even consider a car that is not found in Detroit and identified as The Big Three? Again. I have my suspicions, but my bias is to spend my dollars the way I want!
During the several days of being around others, I considered our individual biases not in line with fellow travelers through life. Is it okay that we don’t think alike? Perhaps. But the main thing is not to let our biases get in the way of doing our duty. Someone is on trial. Bias. Theirs and mine. Someone is defending and prosecuting. Bias. A judge, court report, and clerk are sitting upfront. Bias. The bailiffs escort us around the building and tell us what our next step may be. Bias. Each witness comes into the sitting to testify and deal with their own biased as they face the court full of people with their own biases.
Every mind has a new compass, a new direction of its own,
differencing its genius and aim from every other mind.–
We call this specialty the bias of each individual.
And none of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding
except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s like walking through minefields on top of pitfalls. Gingerly we step through and around just to “fit in, learn, decide” and finally go home. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Someone must decide. Can the prosecutor paint the story in such a way that all the flaws and wrongs are visible? Can the defender paint a sufficiently alternate possibility that leaves us wondering, “Who’s right?” That’s their job, as defined by our laws. What’s my job? That’s the scary part of this whole week.
Bring It Home
St. Patrick is often quoted for where he was in his walk with God and how he did what he did.
- I most certainly believe that it is the gift of God that I am what I am. And so I dwell amongst barbarians, a proselyte and an exile, for the love of God.
- Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.
You can understand you are who you are based upon life’s circumstances. Be happy with it, or change the parameters and move differently ahead. Adaptation comes to mind. You will never undo your past, but you can redirect your future.
If you are interested in understanding who you are, let me point you to who you could be if you have your identity fixed in Christ. Some of your biases will fall away, and you’ll see the world with fresh eyes. Your role is defined. The world is before you. Now. Be like Christ.
Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
(Romans 15:5-7 NKJV)