Invisible Lines, Obvious Divisions

I was recently in the hospital with my mom. (She is well thanks.) For some reason my awareness of the divisions in society were heightened. I have always been conscious of the dividers that exist in our communities, but to me this time they were highlighted and impossible of just being a passing thought. We did not go to the regular hospital my mom goes to when she decides to go to the emergency room. The paramedics took us to a hospital that was closer to our house and more of a trauma center that offers service my mom might have need of. It was rough for me. We were taken out of our upper middle class bubble and taken to a place where we saw some things we would have never seen in at the hospital we ususally go to. On one side of my moms bed there was a woman in a bed that had tried to commit suicide because she "just wanted the pain to stop." On the other side a young kid about 20 was dropped off at the hospital dripping in blood after he had been stabbed 3 times in the chest and stomach. That is not to say that these things don't happen at the hospital she ususally goes to, rather it is to say that we don't see them there and it is not too commonplace. The interesting part of this we are in the middle of the 2 hospitals. One is a city east of us and the other is west of us. Even driving to the hospital, passing through a school zone the divisions were obvious. The african american women were waiting across the street in a group together, the hispanic cholo looking guys were on the other side across the street waiting but not talking to each other, and the older women and caucasian moms were all standing in front of the school or parked in their mini vans waiting for their kids to come out of school.
My heart broke because of all of this. How many people are in the world that would rather die than feel the pain of their life? How many people are surrounded by people when they are in need of help but don't have anyone that cares enough to wait with them through that tragedy? How long will it be before we realize we are surrounded by people who do the same thing we day day after before we engage them in conversation, before we see the bodies in front of us as a life worth knowing? Are we as the hands, mouths and hearts of Christ showing the love that we are called to show? Or do we help perpetuate the dividing lines by shuffling people into the categories of sinner and saint? Love, Love, LOVE!!!!!!!!!!! That is what we need to do. Love God's people and the people who don't know His love yet, blindly, without judgement and unconditionally. Do you have approve of everyone's actions? No. Does someone's actions disqualify them from deserving to be loved? Absolutely not! Love, cheesy to say, but it is what the world needs now.

Be Loved and Be Loving!
Mike