Tuesday Toss Up - The One About Labels
Okay, this is gonna be a combination of a devo and a Tuesday Toss-Up. This has been on my heart all weekend, and I think it's something that you could give some great words of wisdom about too. So leave your comments on what you think whether they be short or long. I want to hear your thoughts! Now to the devo:
America is a place overrun with buisnesses. And all the buisnesses have a marketing campaign. They all have their label that you remember them by.
Whether it's this place that says, "Always low prices. ALWAYS." or this place that tells you to "Come see the softer side," you know them by their advertising. Most likely you won't have to visit those websites above to know what stores those are.
You also probably know what food place tells you to "Eat fresh" while eating their subs with "6 Grams of fat or less." And the burger joint that tells you to "Have it your way" while eating a "Whopper."
Marketing campaigns are a huge part of buisness. You see the ads in newpapers, magazines and on television. You hear them on the radio. These buisnesses want you to know they are out there. They want your money.
Buisnesses aren't the only things with labels though. People have labels. Friday night I went back to my high school to see a guy from my church graduate. I saw one of my teachers, and he shared one of his labels for me. I am, "The only girl who ever cleaned her purse out in his class." My friend Ari is, "The only girl who ever fell asleep while sitting straight up in his class."
I graduated six years ago, but I still haven't lost this label. Apparently not many high school girls want clean purses. Or maybe not many can clean out their purses and still get an "A." Whatever it is, I still have the label.
We all have labels. We're either fat or skinny. We're tall or short. We're red or yellow or black or white.
But when we are saved, we gain the most important label. That is the label of "Christian." Christian means "follower of Christ." Unfortunately there have been many times that I didn't fully represent everything that label means. My life is not always the shining example it should be. I fail everyday.
Sure, it's easy to be a Christian on a blog. I type whats in my heart. You guys see that. But you aren't there for my everyday life. You don't see my struggle with my temper. You don't see my frustration at ignorant drivers on the highway. You don't live with me everyday.
But those that do know that I fail. I have a label that says "hot temper." I have a label that says, "Puts her foot in her mouth too often." Sure, these are things that I strive to work on. They are things that I pray for the Spirit to help me with. But I haven't perfected these things by any stretch of the imagination. I think I have improved, but I still have a lot of work to be done. And I want to do the work. I want to live a life that shows what a Christian truly is. I want to be "an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (I Timothy 4:12)
Right now if I were on a shelf in a store, my label would probably read, "Christian Girl: Some assembly required."
My toss up question to you is this, what is your label? When people see your life do they say, "I want what he/she has." or do they say, "Hmm...if that's a Christian, I don't need it." ?
posted by Heather Smith @ Tuesday, May 30, 2006
7 Comments:
My prayer is that people will see my life and know that I am a Christian. My goal is to live out what I believe so there is no question in people's minds. This is not always the case. I strive to make every area of my life reflect Christ, but I do not always succeed. I pray that people see me as someone who is confident in her Savior, who radiates His peace, and who knows that she cannot handle things herself!
Please come by mine bloggie Heather! You am one of the "select humans"!! Please let me know if you can come. You can even bring your woofies as I will have a special area set up for them. :)
Onward upward. I take comfort in the changes I've seen compared to where I was. It gives me hope.
As for being quick to put my foot in my mouth, I've eaten so much toe jam that it no longer appeals to me. So I choose to keep my mouth shut sometimes - which is scary because I still have to pull my foot out way too much. But it is better....than it was. : )
Heather, what a fantastic post, very thought provoking! You're so right, we all carry labels.
My grandmothers were shining examples of Christians. Even now that they're gone, they continue to inspire me in my faith.
I pray that I can be an example to others as well (to my son, my family, friends, strangers) in my thoughts and actions. Like you though, I struggle in my daily life and I have a long way to go before before someone could see my life and say, "I want what she has," in regards to my faith. I want to do the work involved!
Hmmm ... I think my tag would be a "Rubenesque-compassionate-generous-gentle-lover of Jesus-that has stick-foot-in-mouthitis-and loves to joke and be sarcastic-saved-by-grace-thank-god-for-grace-kinda-girl."
Yup, that's me. But somewhere along the line, I hope people will pick out the "lover of Jesus" part through my every-day actions.
Any, you're not the only one that has idiots driving around you! They're up here too! You'll see soon enough!
Oops. Maybe idiot was too harsh.
See what I mean? Stick-foot-in-mouth-itis!
my label is of course, like me, multiple levels:
to God: Please use before expiration date.
To the world: Who's your daddy?
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