“You must be loyal to the Royal in you.”
I heard this statement every morning in Biblical Literature class. 0700 sharp. For the three years it took to graduate from Indiana Wesleyan University, I heard Wilbur Williams say that every morning.
Most of the time he’d preface it by making it personal.
“I must be loyal to the Royal in me.”
He never left it setting there like a leftover long john pastry that’s missing most of the yum on top. He always hesitated slightly, then had no better sense than to meddle in our busy lives.
“You must be loyal to the Royal in you.”
Huh. It must have stuck in here someplace. I began saying and writing it, too.
So what does it mean?
- You are uniquely designed and created by God. There exists within you the DNA of The Divine. God was not having a bad day when He put you together. As Ethel Waters used to say, “Honey, God don’t build no junk.”
- You are an imperfect specimen through whom God shines. As Paul writes, “We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Those two things seem at odds with one another. They’re not.
Today, choose to thank God for what you have and to thank Him for what you don’t have. Meaning in this life does not now attach, nor has it ever, to what you ‘have’ or ‘don’t have’. Meaning in this life derives from the steady flow of chosen joy, of the sense of well-being that comes from appreciating the gift of Today.
You as a believer may well be the only Jesus many around whom you work, shop, and play will ever know. Be loyal to the Royal in you.
You may not be a believer, but if those around you sense the desire toward God in you, they’re seeing you as one. Be loyal to the Royal in you. Act like one.
You were not put here – right where you are – to drift along by yourself. You were always intended to touch others’ lives, to encourage them by your own experiences and story.
You are a witness to God’s amazing handiwork, like it or not.
Be loyal to the Royal in you.
© D. Dean Boone, February 2015