Greetings Dear Reader,
In one of my favorite baseball movies, For Love of the
Game, there is a conversation about signs:
You know, I always thought that men and women should just
carry around signs. If you're poor and
you can't afford it, you would make yours out of cardboard and string.
And if you're rich, you could have it lettered in gold
leaf or pounded out of tin by craftsmen.
It doesn't matter. But you wear
them around your neck, see? And they say
things, like ''shallow''…
Sometimes people do wear signs or labels that tell us who
they are. Often though, they are telling
us how they wish to be perceived. T-Shirts
and tattoos tell us who others support, where they belong, what they have been
through, and what they believe. Sometimes
we learn things that let us know another better. Sometimes we learn that which we turn into
judgment based on a label.
The idea is that people express who they are or wish to be
through labels as well. Some are sincere,
some entertainment, and some wishful.
All of them tell us something about the person if we look beyond the
label to what it teaches us about them.
These signs are an opportunity. They are the chance to learn and perhaps find
a way to know someone better. Too often,
we choose instead to use the signs worn by others to divide them into people we
would know or reject. They become dividers
instead of uniting us. They are an
invitation to see something about a human we are supposed to love.
Some of these signs create a division that is harmless. We must pity the person wearing the Clemson
shirt at Sanford Stadium. They are
simply proclaiming their loyalty to a lost cause. We must not take the proclamation as an excuse
to disrespect or reject a human. What we
must do is see past the orange to the person who is there.
Even the signs that represent hatred and evil are carried by
those the Father loves. There is where
our opportunity is found. Forewarned of
their love of evil, we can respond out of our love for God. We can walk through the hedge they put around
their world and show them the love of Christ.
This is how we are supposed to live.
There is a reason Dear Reader that I did not say which
symbols. We all have signs and labels
that represent hatred to us. They are different
depending upon your world view. What is a
sacred symbol to some is heinous to others.
Our obligation is to love them beyond the signs they carry. No matter if the sign is a warning or a joyful
proclamation, my obligation is to see it as knowledge of the person that will
allow me to love them more meaningfully.
It is just another chance to show the Father’s love.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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