The Pin

Tuesday, May 2, 2000

2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight. (KJV)
Psalm 56:1,13 – Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? (KJV)

A while back, an offer was extended to acquire a pin which would represent the trinity. The pin as presented on screen and paper was in beautiful soft tones. This, along with the explanation of how it was designed and what it stood for, was what led me to decide to request one.

When the pin arrived, however, the colours were very dark — not at all what I had been led to believe I was getting. Admittedly, I was upset. The softer colours represented, for me at least, the trinity as I have come to know it — as a loving, kind, understanding and forgiving Presence — one of peace and passion and grace, not the harsher, darker, fearful hellfire and brimstone preaching of the past, which the darker colours seemed to represent to me.

A petty point? Perhaps, but a point, nevertheless, and so I had to get beyond the depth of the colours and focus on the depth of the pin itself: the design, and what it represented.

At some point in our lives we may also encounter this type of situation with our choice of friends, our families, our workplace or organization — even in our church. A situation may arise in which a person, or persons, or a job, whether paid or volunteer, is not what was shown to us either in person, on resume, or by description, so that once in that situation, rather than being a co-operative, satisfying place to be, it is unco-operative, fraught with all kinds of "dark" unpleasantries. Whether one singularly, or as a body, experiences distrust, suspicion, back-stabbing, squabbling, or a myriad of circumstances, it is important to keep our focus on the reason we are there. Something about where we are matters to us; we need to focus on that, and then, excluding all else, disallow ourselves to be "swallowed up".

Difficult as it may be, we are called to rise above the discord, and, with our faith in the Lord, "walk in the light of the living".

Prayer: Our Father, who grants us the grace and ability to live our lives contentedly, guide us through our times of trouble, help us to maintain our focus, and protect us from being "caught in the fray", that the choices we make daily, may be made wisely. In your name we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Mary Daniel <marydee@shaw.ca>
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

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