Tiny Devotional for Thursday, 06-03-2021

A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, rice and salsa for breakfast.

Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
Proverbs 3:3, NASB

Assorted Neckwear

When I was being in-processed to the Army, I was issued a pair of dog tags. Stamped into the metal was my name, serial number, blood type, and religious preference. I wore them every day for three years.

On the wall above my desk, I have a collection of various name badges I’ve been issued, going back to 1983, from short-term, hand-made badges, just intended to be worn for a few days, to the high-tech badge from my term as a security volunteer during the 1996 Olympics.
I’ve worn a lot of neckties over the years. Those, too, are a badge; I wore them as a symbol of professionalism.
Some people wear beautiful/expensive necklaces.

Are kindness and truth spiritual analogues of these other items of neckwear?

They’d better not be!

Two BIG differences:

1. All of those items I mentioned were intended to be put on, and taken off. Their wear depended on need, location, and fashion/custom; they are ALL temporary. Kindness and truth, on the other hand, are a permanent part of me, like my lungs are a permanent part of my body.

2. Badges and neckties communicate to others something ABOUT me, my name, my qualifications, or my fashion sense; and, they can lie. Kindness and truth DEFINE me, and there is no way to fake them.

The BIGGEST difference?

Treat your necklace/necktie/badge with care, so you don’t damage it.

Kindness and truth are INTENDED for rough treatment. 


Peace be on your household.

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