Consider the paper clip. Now they come in all colors,
shapes and sizes, and some are even made of plastic. But we
are still likely to think of a real, genuine honest-to-goodness
paper clip as made out of silver metal. They
hold papers together or the flap shut on an envelope; they can be
used as a bookmark or as a clothes-pin or a screwdriver or a
keychain, or bent straight they can clean out a tiny hole or even
get dirt out from under fingernails. They are one of the great modern
inventions, and we wonder how we ever got along without them - -
this seemingly miraculous little piece of metal that holds many
pieces of things together.
Some
people remind me of paper clips, the way they relate to the world -
- all bent in on themselves as if protecting something
precious.
Their lives are based on how much is expected of them. They
fear letting go of things they have, of losing control of
things.
Paper
clip people have bent in lives, turned into selves, unable to
respond to the needs of others, seeing others as adversaries or
enemies.
They have a loss of self, of sharing - - of true joy - - of
true giving - - being wrapped around themselves so tightly it is
hard to breathe. A person
wrapped up in oneself is a pretty small package.
Jesus
was very clear on how to avoid being a paper clip person. In Matthew 16:24-26 Jesus tells his
disciples:
“If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget
himself, carry his cross, and follow me. For
whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses
his life for my sake will find it. Will a person gain anything if he
wins the whole world but loses his life? Of
course not! There is nothing he can give to
regain his life.”
Paper
clip people cannot understand this. But when we are aware of how much
we have - - when we realize the abundance of God’s gifts - - we no
longer have to hold onto things as tightly.
Listen to this story I call the “Langdoc Parable”: God is
like a mother, who after her second child is born, sees sadness in
the eyes of the first child. When she asks the child why he is
so sad, the child says he is afraid the baby will get all of his
mother’s love and he will get none. What did the mother do? She lit
a candle, and used it to light another candle. Then she
told the older child: “The light
from the first candle is my love for you. The
light from the second candle is my love for the baby. And your
candle does not burn any less brightly.”
We
need to confront our fears and realize that there is no limit to
God’s love within us. We are only as good as our will to
share and our courage to let go.
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