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Day 192, or July the 11th. Inside we're all the same. Our thoughts today are rooted in

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Song of Songs, chapter 1, verses 5 to 6.

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Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent-curtains

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of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun.

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First the big picture surrounding these verses. Many describe this book as the Song of Solomon

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because of the first verse that reads, Solomon's Song of Songs. Different Bibles use different

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titles but both describe accurately what the book is. It's an evocative love story of

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Royal Solomon and a working-class shepherdess. Some say this is the only wife Solomon had

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of his seven hundred whom he truly loved.

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And now today's action step. It's not so long ago that having a fair or pale skin was

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a mark of being one of the nobility. Only the common folk worked outside and were browned

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by the sun. From our verse to date it appears that this was the case in the days of Solomon

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too. The young shepherdess in this book declares herself beautiful despite being dark in colour.

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Despite not being the same as Solomon and his court, she insists that she is very beautiful,

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and though dark, yet lovely. There are all sorts of aspects to our personality and appearance

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that go towards making us the individuals that we are. Our height, weight, hair colour,

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accent, etc., etc. all go to put each of us into one category or another. We are subliminally

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drawn to people who are similar to us, and if we are not careful, this creates the cliques

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in society that so many of us hate. We must make a conscious effort to break down this

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tribalism, but it's not easy. Be yourself, that's the easy part, but allow others to

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be themselves too, that's the hard part. Today, when you meet someone who is not your

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sort of person, remember that Jesus died for them just as he did for you, and greet them

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in your mind before you speak, like Ananias did to Saul of Tarsus.

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God bless you.