Zion, to Me

Zion, to me, is a haven for all who come to it. A place where everyone feels safe. A place where everyone feels wanted. A place where everyone feels comfortable and invited. A place where the gravest sinner can heal their minds and hearts with humility, hope, and joy. A place where a terse word feels out of place before it reaches the chests of whom would speak it. A place where even the haughty and entitled feel no place for their power because the selfishness of the one is swallowed by the care of the concourses. A place where the filth of the homeless will be cleaned up after them because the group is simply happy they have come. A place where labor is lightened by many hands and pleasant exchanges. A place where the hardest work is enjoyed with friendship, laughter, cooperation, and understanding communication. A place where race, gender, faith, and faults are acknowledged, but not evaluated. A place where the one doesn't seek dominion over the many, and where the many know their individual importance to the one. A place where ideas are freely spoken and heard, and then are applied with the Spirit or gracefully set aside with love and acceptance. A place where the drug user comes for help or relief and receives it with competent encouragement to quit, no matter how many times they relapse. A place where the one monitors their own righteousness instead of the other's. A place where all truths found on the Earth are brought, shared, and given with humility and firsthand experience. A place where anyone with an alternative sexual orientation or gender identity feels less judgment to correct and more of God's love to heal. A place where all seek the praise of God, not each other.

This is Zion to me.