Monster Customers

I work in my university’s bookstore for a learn and earn program. Mostly my job description is sitting behind the counter, watching people walk in and out, talk with a few people who decide to chat, and when we have a customer, check them out. But mostly, I just sit watch, hour by hour. Right in front of the counter, first thing I see when I look up and first thing anyone sees when they walk in is a large, three-tier gondola, shelving just about every t-shirt we sell in the store. Which makes it a popular area of merchandise for customers to look through.

Each customer comes in looking to fulfill a need or want. They rifle through the products until they find whatever might satisfy that need or want, but sometimes they just don’t care about how they go about finding the product they’re looking for. That gondola is usually the messiest shelf (other than the clearance shelf) in the store. I suppose one of my job duties is maintaining a neat and welcoming area, which means that I have to clean up after what I refer to as the “monster customers” when they sift through our stacks of t-shirts leaving them unfolded, piled up, and quite disheveled. You have no idea how annoying it is to clean up after all kinds of strangers who don’t care at all about the mess they leave behind them- it’s not their job to clean it up after all.

Doesn’t this sound like life? We do it ourselves, and watch other people do it to. We feel a want or a need and we try to fulfill that desire by any means possible- it doesn’t matter how we get there, only that we do. We can mess up the lives of the people around us or mess up everything that is a part of our own lives while we’re still in hunt mode for that one specific thing that we imagine is going to be the perfect product- love, meaning, worth, success, experience, etc. I mean really think about it, what might you be aiming for right now? Are you distracted from maintaining anything else in your life, like friendships or family relationships? How about education? Is that bum guy you’re sleeping with because you believe he loves you, really going to help you live the life that you want? What’s your career like? Exciting, fascinating… How are your family and friends doing?

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t aim high and fight for whatever goals we make, but that we should only pay more attention about how we go about our achieving our goals. For example, if you’re looking for love, don’t settle for the first bum who says that he thinks he loves you. Some people try to help us fix our messes, or we try to do it on our own, but the truth is that the big mistakes we make aren’t messes that we can clean up. That’s not part of our job description. Our job description would probably be something like, “Do the best you can.” It’s Christ though that cleans up our mess. He already has, already is, and if we ask for the help, probably will. It’s the asking for help part that we get hung up on sometimes, isn’t it? But let’s face it- we can’t go back and clean up the trail we left behind us, because we don’t have any control over any time but the present. So, are you making a mess or trying to avoid one? It’s decision we have to make every day, multiple times. Sometimes though, it’s just best to ask the clerk for help finding the thing you think you want- He might know the Lifestore’s inventory a little better.

Love and warm wishes!

Carrying On Tradition

What a crazy summer it was! An internship that took me 400-some miles away from home for nearly 3 months, then an AMAZING pilgrimage to Roma and World Youth Day in Madrid (but our group also took day trips to Toledo and Avila). Only to come right back to school, like a world that was completely insulated from everything that actually occurred in the rest of the world. Mayberry, unlike myself, is the same, just like I left it. I had to struggle to keep my faith as a part of my habits, traveled to some of the greatest places in Catholicism, taken part in the largest group of witnesses of our Lord and faith, yet here I am one last time in the world of Protestants.

An unchanged part of school was Welcome Back Week last week. Each day hosted the same event that it had the year before, the year before that, and I’m sure the year before that. As is tradition Wednesday night had hosted Worship at the Cabin, which is like a bonfire with some music and the occasional tearful testimonial of what Christ did in people’s lives over the summer. It was an event I hadn’t attended since my freshman year… like most of the other faith-filled events on campus. This year I really wanted to go though and had some friends who were also interested in attending. As we sat in the dark in our university’s nature preserve, I couldn’t help but see the love of Christ present in the praise of everyone gathered there. These Christians whose traditions and theologies differ so much from not only mine, but also from each other’s had such an inspiring approach to praising our Lord. I’d seen it plenty of times before, but coming from Europe and all things Catholic, it was a relaxed change that struck me. Had we- the Catholic youth- learned from Protestants how to have Festivals of Praise? Had they influenced us sometime ago?

This semester I’m taking Humanities II which studies the Reformation to the present, and right now we’ve only gotten so far as John Calvin in the time line. I can’t help but wonder though as I listen to the biographies on the reformists and their theologies how have they affected us? Well, it’s obvious that Catholic leaders were forced to step up to the plate and those who were corrupt needed to fix their messes. But these reformists were asking questions and making far reaching statements that were contrary to our beliefs that we had just always accepted, or at least affecting the illiterate majority who knew nothing about the whys, hows, ins and outs of the faith. They went to Mass each week and sat in the light of the stained glass windows but they couldn’t argue why or how the Eucharist really, truly becomes the flesh of Christ. These reformists were a rude awakening to us and they forced us to look deeply and closely at our faith to answer their questions and respond to their radical theological ideals. Our faith has survived though, by the grace of God. By the tradition in which the Holy Spirit lives, and in the true presence of the Son. All the saints who have walked the path before us are praying for us and for our increase in faith. Are we taking for granted all that has come before our time?

We are growing, yes. World Youth Day was a true and strong statement that Catholic youth is here and our lives are still before us. There’s a lot of us too! “ESTA ES LA JUVENTUD DE PAPA!” (This is the youth of the Pope.) We easily take for granted all that we know about our glorious faith. We even forget the dark past. Honestly though, without the push from the reformists, I don’t think our faith would have the great health it has today. Look at it! There may be some scandals in the body of Christ, but our German Sheppard, the successor of Peter is so spiritually healthy! He urges us and urges us to pick up our Bibles and dive into scripture to encounter Christ there. We often have more than one Bible in our homes, are we opening them up? It’s even in English- we can read it. And now we have the YouCat (which I’m super excited about!)

May we not take for granted and forget what has come before us. May we exercise the faith that we have learned and claim to have. May we continue to grow in the faith and keep it filled with the excitement of the youth.


Love and warm wishes!