a simple treat

Red, Green, Blue, Yellow... all the colors are represented. I wonder if Jelly Belly is a metaphor for the diversity of life. People are different, all with a slightly distinct flavor. Sometimes when I'm just riding around or smelling around or feeling around, I look and I see everyone looks the same. But they're not. My eyes are the same. People are different because God made them different. God made us different because he is a creative, interesting person who doesn't like the assembly line and he doesn't like mass production. He likes handcrafted, handpainted, handmade people. He doesn't mind blemishes and he certainly doesn't mind difference.

I remember being struck by the diversity of life in Amsterdam where not only did the people where strange colors with pointy shoes, but where the people's birthday suits were different. So many cultures, so little space. I remember seeing dark skin and light skin living together in a small place. I remember seeing difference.

Here in Colorado homes are built practically on top of one another (you can reach out your bathroom window and touch your neighbor) and homeowners are forced to put up fences between the houses, as if to offer privacy. I'm not sure if it's to keep other people out or to keep us all in. Fences are kind of interesting in that way. I didn't see many fences in Amsterdam and I don't see many fences in Denver and I don't see many fences in the mountains.



Isn't that weird - one doesn't find fences in densely populated places and one doesn't find fences in the most rugged of places. You can't contain a city and you can't contain nature. There is no fence for this. You can't contain God.

What does a jelly belly have to do with a fence...? This. Difference, tolerance, coexistence. I just wonder why they made that "buttered popcorn" flavor - it's terrible.