Shine

Shine! Yes I said shine! What I mean by that is that as followers of the way of Christ we need to be immediately apparent to everyone around us. We need to let others know that there is something different about us. When something shines in our eyes, it is immediately apparent and it gets our attention.
I am thinking about this because of an experience I had yesterday. I was in line at Stone Mountain waiting on the sky tram to go to the top of the mountain. The person counting and letting the people in asked everyone to move up and make room for more people. Now this person did not say it in the nicest way, but it was not rude either, they were just doing their job. However, was standing by another person who just started to "go off" about the poor customer service that she had received while in the park all day. They talked about how they were going to write a letter and they just could not believe it. Then, as I stood there, they continued to talk about all the horrible experiences they had had at different eating establishments. They talked about how they tried to complain on line to one place, but they did not have an online complaint area, so they had to write a letter. I stood there thinking, "I wonder why they do not get good customer service." To me it was painfully obvious - they do not expect it, they complain about most everything in their life, and they get back what they are giving to the world. I thought of this verse as I was standing there waiting.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

Philippians 2:14-15

I am not judging this person, I know that I complain about things at times. It is a great example of how we as Christ followers can either "shine" and make it apparent that there is something different about us, or we can complain and be just like everyone else. If you do not think you are getting good customer service do not complain. Rather, turn that situation around and be kind to the person or persons you think are being rude. If I am getting served by a waiter or waitress that "has an attitude" am I going to turn that around by being rude to them and expecting they serve me better or by serving them and asking about what might be wrong, telling them a joke, and making them feel better? You tell me which person will get the better "service." More importantly to me, which one shines like a star in the universe to all those around?

Shine today and everyday. Look for opportunities to be kind and shine. Stop look for the opportunities to be offended, you can always find them. Wouldn't you rather shine?

Namaste'