Greetings Dear Reader,
We always hear the question,
“what is normal?” Defining it can be
very subjective and often elusive.
Normal is the habits we have and the patterns we are used to
following. There are objective norms but
they almost always have a range.
For most of us normal
is the routine we follow throughout the week.
It is often seen to us as the drudgery we endure to get to the glimpses
of what we would rather be doing.
Instead of pursuing what our hearts desire, we run a path of sustenance that
provides necessities but is not rewarding.
I consider this equation
whenever I take on something as “work”. I do not simply work for pay. I trade part of my life for pay. I evaluate if I am willing to trade my life
for that thing. This has led to another,
deeper thought about this. When I give
my life to complaints, anger, and offenses, I am trading life for strife. I am wasting an opportunity to love.
This leads to the
idea of examining why we get offended.
We establish a set of norms in our minds defining what is offensive. We call them pet peeves, last nerves, and
triggers. What we fail to do is own that
we choose what will offend us. We decide
where our love and understanding stops and where irritation and anger
begin. I am not saying that there is
never justifiable anger or that things do not irritate us. It is clear, however, that we are a society
of people who get offended as a norm.
As a Christ-follower,
I am obligated to have norms that included love, grace, kindness, and
peace. If I am focused on offense, I am
not looking for ways to love those around me.
I must move to a place where I refuse to trade life for offenses. I must become, as much as is possible for a
human, unoffendable. Building the norm
of focusing on love of others is a great start.
It will take intention to realign my long patterns of thought to a place
where my norms of offense no longer exist.
I must also
understand that the cross and the gospel are offensive to others. For some reason, kindness and love can often
be met with anger and offense. I cannot
allow the offense that others feel mitigate my willingness to deal with others
in love and grace. As I walk through
this year, we will often revisit this idea of being unoffendable. We will look at every topic through the
lenses of love and being unable to be offended.
We will begin tomorrow by beginning to deconstruct the Liturgy of the
Common Man. I will explain that then as
promised. Thank you for your time and company,
Dear Reader. Your companionship in the
journey is priceless.
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
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