Greetings Dear Reader,
This is the time of year where I usually rant about the poor
quality of modern-day Cracker Jack prizes.
They have diminished drastically in quality since I was a youth. I loved them enough to make them a feature in
a short story I wrote about baseball.
For your benefit, it used to be that the prizes in a box of
Cracker Jack (it not “Jacks”) were things to be wanted, valued, and
traded. One could use them. It was something to prize. It would make your friends envious. Thought and quality went into what you were
given in the box of popcorn and peanuts.
In the midst of that disappointment, I still buy Cracker
Jack. I still enjoy it. If I am completely open about it, I still
hope that I will get a whistle, a top, or a small pewter airplane when I dig
into a box. I know I will not but I
still hope.
There was a time when I was at a Braves’ game with my
Grandfather. The prize in my Cracker
Jack was game where you have to get the tiny balls in the holes all at
once. I already had two of them and was
yearning for the pewter airplane. When I
complained about it my Grandfather wisely answered. What he said stuck with me.
Diverting his attention from the baseball game, he turned
and looked at me. With all the love in
that he held for me, he said, “You do not always get what you ask for. You get what you are given and are required
to do your best to love with that.” He
did not shame me or make me feel bad. He
gently taught me how to look for ways to show love with what I have. This was only the beginning of that lesson
and he lived it out in front of me every time we were together.
We can only work with what we are given, Dear Reader. We may not have what we want but as we build
again, we can still do better with what we are given. We can lay aside the desire to complain that
we do not have enough. We can work with
what we are given and do all that we can to do so in love.
I will never be able to love others as well as I should but
I can take what I am given and use it to build better acts of love toward
others. I can refuse to complain about
what I have. I can focus on being grateful
for it and use it to love others. I will
choose to build it better by accepting what I get and working to make every
encounter one that leaves others feeling loved and valued.
The world will be broken until the Father brings it all back
to good. I can complain about the world
I am given or I can work to love others.
I am learning that the latter makes for a richer and more joyful
life. Let us build it better together,
Dear Reader. If we do, we will be very
pleased with what we get.
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 ͡°)
Every human story is part of the great story that leads
to the Father getting everything back to Good.
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment