Respect

If you are under thirty-five years of age, you will most likely not understand the emotion of my muse.  This example of respect may be generational but the idea is definitely transferable.

It has been forty years and it seems as if the sun has not yet set.  Actions of yesteryear lie buried in my soul.  We were entering Watertown from the east, our youth excursion was almost over.  We had had a grand ol' time doing what, I don't remember.  As our car barreled down the big hill towards the river, I saw my friend's dad coming towards us in his nifty police cruiser.  Being very tired and somewhat giddy, I hung my head out the window, waved frantically, called out to him, by his first name, and yelled "Hi"!  What had I done...?  I couldn't get my head in the window fast enough. You don't call an adult by their first name!  My stomach felt awful...I suspect a  little like Peter when he denied his Christ.

I had just disrespected a man I should have honored.  That family had a divorce soon afterward...was I at fault?  I'm sure there was no harm done and I bet he was glad that I was glad to see him. 

I had often thought there was no disrespect if the approached party doesn't care if they are respected.  Have I fallen into the trap of placing the obligation of respect on the conscience of the deserved?  Does respect work that way?  If so, I can gloat in the joy of my ignorance and the serenity of my miscalculation. 

          "Oh, he doesn't care if I show respect."
          "He doesn't deserve my respect."
          "If he doesn't respect me, why should I respect him?"

In this ignorance and miscalculation is my respect to my God also haphazard?

          "Well how are ya doin? Let me give you a few requests and I'm off  to   
            something more important."

Am I flippant with the Creator and His children?

Respect is a tricky thing because I have this incredible ability to think people are not great enough for my high approval.

Snappy salutations don't always have to be stated but the heartfelt driven idea is that "God has a reason for you and I respect you for the miles you have put in."

Respect is garnered by the greatness of our Creator not by my calculation of how individuals match up to my "perfection".  Respect is my genuine honor of Gods' creation.  Jesus is a great example of this.  He understands who people are, what they are dealing with and how he can help them in their journey.

I told you that there was probably no harm done to my friends dad....do I know that to be true?  Did my insolent behavior lower his susceptibility?  I will never know.  But I learned from that example that I owe many more people much more respect a lot more often.

Bait

When I was in college I took a literature course and found myself debating, all too often with my teacher, about the  thoughts of writers.  We would all sit around in class and discuss what was going through the minds of these authors.  My teacher always seemed to know where these thoughts came from and where they were going.

"Why use a raven to say nevermore?"

"What's the real deal with this throbbing heart?"

"Was Mr. Poe giving us a clue or skirting the real issue?"

"Was he scared, angry, depressed....?"

"Did he want us to listen closer or steer us away?"

I had so many questions.  Often we have no clue what people are saying and relate our own experiences to develop some relevance.

I did a little experiment and took some of my writings to my dorm mates and asked them what I may have been thinking when I wrote what I wrote.

Since you are reading my blogs this may not come as a surprise but everyone, including my teacher, received a different slant to the thoughts behind my pen.  Instead of delving into the whereabouts of a thought, it seems much easier for me to make a comfortable conclusion about the idea.

Isaac Watts wrote a song, At the Cross, in which he classified himself as a worm;

                                       Alas! and did my Savior bleed
                                       And did my Sovereign die?
                                      Would He devote that sacred head
                                       for such a worm as I?

This rendition was cast off and worm was substituted for "...sinners such as I?"  Wouldn't Mr. Watts put sinners if he wanted sinners?  Why change it?  Maybe worm has some bad connotations....?  Precisely!  Why would Jesus die for me, a slimy, disgusting worm? I don't know, maybe "worm" is a cuss word in Greek or something.  If it is, I apologize but try to come back to the English language with me and see if we can shake this out a bit.  What might Isaac Watts have been thinking when he called himself a worm? 

"....such a worm as I."  What a line.  It isn't a real pretty picture, but it is so indicative of who we are.  We aren't too pleasing and often get ourselves in trouble when we find ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

The problem with worms, when they get caught, is two fold.  Not only are they skewered on a fishing hook and forced to die a slow death, they are also used as bait to lure something else to its demise.

This is not too unlike us now is it?  Stay with me here, these examples are used as parallels not comparisons.  We, as the worms, are surrounded by our safe haven of dirt or God's protection.  We are lured out into the world by the falling rains of temptation.  We are then snatched by the fishermen of deceit (sorry anglers) to not only be abused but used in the reeling in of captors to build the army of Satan.

I let my guard down and it doesn't take much, just a sprinkle, and I come out to test temptation, and I'm caught.  Have you ever pulled a worm out of the ground and it rips in half?  Satan is no different.  He doesn't care if he only gets a little piece of me, just enough to use as bait to ruin my reputation and lure someone else into his clutches.

Does the rain of mockery, gossip or self righteousness drag me out of God's safe haven of respect, commitment and servitude?  Do I allow the fisherman of deceit to not only skewer my character but use me to drag others away from Jesus? 

I must be careful then.  My character is one step, one look, one thought from the inviting rains of deception.  Let us stay vigilant for the work of Christ.


                                     ~A thought from January 2012~

Sometimes I feel too carefree in this freedom Christ sacrificed for.  His honor should not be trivialized because I twist His word to find permission to do what I know in my heart to be less than what He desires.