I was sitting in my car at a strip mall, waiting for my son
to complete a quick purchase when I saw a young man exit one of the stores. He
left the store, pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up and forward so his face
disappeared into it. His head was down, his hands were tucked in his pockets,
his jeans were slightly low and he had that strut. You know the strut. It says
“I am too cool to make eye contact, too tough to give you a glance, too
gangsta’ to deal with the likes of you.”
And then he walked into a tree. A low hanging branch had
gone right into his hood and could have poked his eye, cut his cheek or done
some damage, but I had to laugh.
And then I thought, he was so busy being cool, he didn’t
see the tree.
How often has that happened in my Christian life?
I can be the picture of a good Christian woman. I help
people who are struggling; the old lady with her groceries, the student
dropping books, the young mother who can’t get her stroller and parcels out the
store door without assistance.
But am I pulling up my hoodie to keep from seeing the world
and being satisfied with having the world see me?
Some days, I insist on doing 95% (or less) and leave that 5%
open to worldly ways, evil and negative influences. When I walk with my head
down, hidden in a hood of my own making, is there a tree waiting to slap me in
the face? I drop my head thinking I am shielded from judgment , and then
suddenly I realize that everyone sees me anyway. My efforts to be Christian on
the outside do not preempt a stray branch from sneaking in and changing my whole
persona.
The young man at the strip mall was not ready and the branch
reached in and changed the way the outside viewed him. If I am not ready, I
shudder to think of what I am opening my heart to. I can’t let the smallest evil
get in, because I am not ready to betray my faith for the love of self over
world.
I need to fling back my hood, raise my eyes and declare to
the world that I am ready to let them see me as I truly am. I must shout to the
mountaintops that I am armed and ready to face and fight adversity and damaging
items and defeat them. I need to let the world see me and to look back at them
and say that I am their servant in Christ, regardless of how they see me. It
isn’t my image that makes me a Christian, but the real me. I have to be honest,
loving and most of all, forget what others think and only focus on what Jesus
decreed to be right.
I can’t love unconditionally with blinders on. I can’t see
the world with my hoodie covering my eyes. I need to open up, wise up and look
up. There is so much I will miss if I forget to look.
