Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

• Romans 12:10

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,

• Philippians 2:3

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

• Galatians 5:13

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—

• Matthew 20:26-27

Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;
    an outsider, and not your own lips.

• Proverbs 27:2

“The children worked long and hard on their little cardboard shack. rt was to be a special spot-a clubhouse, where they could meet together, play, and have fun. Since a clubhouse has to have rules, they came up with three: Nobody act big. Nobody act small. Everybody act medium.
“Not bad theology!
“In different words, God says the very same thing. …
“Just ‘act medium.’ Believable. Honest, human, thoughtful, and down to earth. Regardless of your elevated position or high pile of honors or row of degrees or endless list of achievements, just stay real. Junk any idea that you deserve some kind of super recognition for a job well done. Who did you do it for anyway? If you did it for God, He has an infinite number of unseen ways to reward you. If you did it for human glory, no wonder you’re seeking the credit! So easy to draw out that praise for yourself, isn’t it? Ye olde ego is a wily one.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, The Finishing Touch (Devotion for week 46, Thursday)

I read his title a few times.  “Act Medium.”  And I thought, that I should act on fire for Jesus.

Then, I actually read what he wrote.  It takes a lot of emotions to love everyone and treat everyone with respect, but it also takes restraint.

I wonder how that rule held up.  Any small group of children that I have ever seen had a pecking order.  There was always that self-absorbed, self-proclaimed top dog.

But if we could pull it off, acting medium would solve a lot of issues.  Why impress your will on someone else when you are all equals?  Why always do what Susie wants because she will throw a fit if you don’t, because being equal and medium means you find out that what others want to do might be fun too?

But it rarely works out that way.  When I have seen it work out, four people got what they wanted because the fifth person kept his mouth shut and went along with the others.  He never got to do what he wanted, but then again, what he wanted was that everyone would have a good time.

Don’t feel cheated if you capitulated to the desires of others and you had a fun time with no one being too big and no one being too small, except maybe you.  Because in being small this once, everyone had a good time.

I remember the only birthday party that I ever had.  My leg was in a splint and my mother felt sorry for me, a rare moment.  She invited all the girls from church and supposedly some guys.  But the only ones to show up were the girls.  A few years later and that would be the dream party, but we were at that awkward age.  Since we were not going to be playing ball in the empty lot next door to my grandmother’s house in town, she parked her car there and we played the basic party games that girls like to play: Mother may I, Simon says, etc.  Then we played a board game that I got as a present.  To this point, I had lost at every game, and the girls were yawning.  Then one of the girls asked what was behind the closed door.  My grandmother said that she had waxed the hardwood floor in the living room.  We rarely ever had anything to do in there since she liked to keep the floor looking nice.

With a few pleas from the girls, my grandmother, who chaperoned the party while my mother was at work, said something about having been a kid herself, way back when.  We all took our shoes off and took a few quick steps across the living room floor, and then we slid on our sock feet until we hit a piece of furniture.  even with one leg in a split, I managed. When the parents came to pick up their daughters, the girls all said that they laughed and had a great time, but that was just the last hour of the party when we turned the newly waxed floor into a skating rink.  We were no longer one boy and six to eight girls.  We were all skaters who laughed and kidded each other.  And no furniture was damaged, but I do not think the wax job lasted as long as my grandmother wanted.  But I think she laughed more than the rest of us combined. Now try that on a carpeted floor.

My mother, once she found out what happened, was afraid that we’d have to buy all the girls a new pair of socks, but no one complained.

When you find the right thing, acting medium works pretty good.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.