Daily Word of Grace # 77 (July 1, 2020)
In a particularly hilarious episode of the classic television comedy The Office the neurotic Dwight K. Shrute finally has his dream come true and is named Acting Manager of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company (season 7, episode 24). He basks in throwing his weight around with the staff, and proclaims to them, “You guys are my best friends, and I mean that. Managing you for this last week has been the greatest honor of my life. And if you ruin this, I will burn this office to the ground. And I mean that figuratively not literally, because you guys are so, so important to me. I love you guys, but don’t cross me, but you’re the best.” As you can imagine, this leaves the rest of the staff on constant alert, walking on eggshells from uncertainty about where they stand with their new acting manager. Who are the Dwight K. Shrute’s in your life? Who are those whose duplicitous and capricious behavior always leave you similarly on constant alert, walking on eggshells? While such dynamics will always be present with certain people in our lives, it is the exact opposite with God, who is neither duplicitous nor capricious, but rather genuine and constant. With God “there is not variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17), for God is both faithful (1 Corinthians 10:12) and compassionate (Matthew 9:36). Although the staff of Dunder Mifflin was too afraid to cross Dwight K. Schrute the world was not afraid to cross God, even to the point of nailing Jesus to a literal cross. And yet even then God’s genuine and constant love, even then God’s faithful and compassionate love remained unchanged…and still is.
Love and Prayers,
Dave