Addendum: The Mug

I’ve started to go through a devotional book titled, “The Cup of Your Life”. It’s a six-week journey to encountering the LORD via the metaphor of a cup. It requires the purchase of a cup of some sort and a dedicated journal to work in.

Yesterday I went to a couple of stores to find my cup. First, I went to a thrift store. Those kind of places can be hit or miss by their very nature, but often I find great treasures there. Sadly there were only cutesy cups, “Best Grandpa Ever” mugs, pewter tankards, and one tea cup that had been chipped, broken and repaired with super glue. I thought the glued one was quite lovely in a representative sort of way. We’ve all felt like that, especially when engaging with the LORD. We’ve hit a wall, fallen apart, and He has cared so much about us He has put us back together. However, it just didn’t feel quite right.

At the second store, I found what I believed to be a lovely enough mug. It had clearly been handmade. The bottom half had a rough, slate-like texture while the top half was glazed and smooth. A charming blue and grey color had been used over all and I was sold.

Or so I thought…

Looking at the bottom of it for how much it was going to cost, I realized it had neither a price tag nor a bar code. Recently I’ve had a number of run-ins where an item is unmarked and instead of making up a price, as they once did, the store refuses to sell it. Unfortunately the lovely handmade, blue and grey mug was the only one left on the shelf.

I picked up another of similar size and planned to use it as maybe a substitute for pricing.

And then it happened.

I took one look at the other mug in my hand, the one I didn’t want, and I felt the Spirit nudge me.

To say that I didn’t like this new mug would be an understatement. It is sitting right in front of me as I write this and I still don’t like it. I don’t want to use the word “loathe”, but it might be appropriate. I certainly never would have purchased it for myself.

This mug is grayish white, of a pretty standard size. It has some speckles and pits intentionally added to make it look more “folksy” despite it being made in China. The bottom half is textured with raised hexagons. The top half is smooth and has a watercolor bee, and two green fronds; one frond on either side of the bee.

On the handle of the mug, about where you would place your thumb as you raise it to your lips, are two indented words.

“Bee You.”

The whole mug makes me uncomfortable. If the LORD hadn’t indicated, “Yes” I would have said a few more words that simply, “No”. It’s too bright, too cheery, and far more “positivity” inducing than anything I would ever willing own. I’m aware that most people find “positivity” comforting and encouraging. I, however, tend to regard it with discomfort and suspicion.

When I was a kid, people naturally encouraged me. Kids need encouraging and adults need to encourage kids. It’s how they develop the courage to try new things. I’m fine with rational encouragement. But people in my life went too far with it to the point of saying things like, “I know you’ll succeed! All you have to do is just believe it and it will happen for you! You’ll win at everything!” Which is fine…up to a point.

When people tell you that sort of thing as a kindergartener facing down a second grader in a wrestling match…it is at most delusional and at best just false. It made me think that I didn’t need skill, know-how, years of practice… If I just believed I could then the stars would align and “manifest my best life” magically. It’s not too far from common, popular thinking these days.

So, there are the words stamped into the handle of the mug the Spirit nudged me into getting…”Bee You!” When the Spirit moves nodding vigorously, I know better than to disobey. I do admit a wry smile crossed my lips as I remembered Bill Cosby’s routine on cocaine. “People say it’s great, it lowers your inhibitions, and makes you more of who you really are. But…what if…you’re an a-hole?”

“Bee You!”

I am far more in favor of and inspired by challenging phrases that cause you to seriously consider your mortality. “Memento Mori” – Remember that you will die. “All is vanity.” “We are but a vapor.” There is a gravitas, a hard certainty to these words. There is not a hint of delusion or falseness and so I feel like I can lean on those to motivate my life.

In my years I’ve given two pieces of advice. 1) It’s all going to wrinkle and sag, dry up and go limp, so don’t fixate on what is going to fade. 2) The reason that there are signs that say, “Don’t shake a baby” is because at some point you’re going to be tempted to.

No one can argue against these points. They can’t be said in a “happy-clappy positivity makes everything better, Yay!” false way. Granted my pieces of advice are things nobody wants to hear about, but the point remains.

“Bee You”

For the Christian, I have to admit, this statement is a truth and a challenge. And, yes, as a matter of fact I am gritting my teeth as I write this.

Our “you” we are called to “bee” is not something we get to make up ourselves. It is not a shadow pulled out of thin air at our command in a form that we desire. We don’t get to pick our identity. We are called to be precisely what God made us to be and to do what He has already set aside for us to do from the foundation of the earth; from the moment He set the very first atom spinning.

To “Bee You” is, for the Christian, a life long call and challenge. It is a quest above all quests because we gunk up our identity. We chase after things that are not at all a part of who we really are. Other people do things to us that gunk up our identity as we allow them in various ways to tell us who we are and what we are worth.

To be ourselves is a call to be not like other Christians, but to be the unique being God created us to be; this one time, ultra limited edition expression of God’s love and light in a dark and apathetic world. And weirdly, as unique as we all are and have been created to be…that uniqueness does not dissolve as we transform into what our identity very much should be based in…our conformity to the image and person of Jesus.

Well, now that I’ve successfully worked through my issue with this mug, it’s time to pray a blessing over it.

Pax,

W