Silver Slicer

As my cheese was being sliced at the food store, I thought of a little neighborhood deli.
I was trying to remember the name, which finally came to me, The Silver Slicer.
It was a tiny market deli where meats and cheeses could be bought.
I remember the large barrels of pickles that were always in front of the deli case.

Barrels with long chains on which metal tongs were attached.
You would lift the clear plastic lid and choose your large pickle.
It would be wrapped in special paper to be brought home and eaten later.
I always loved going there when I was a girl since they always gave you a slice of cheese.

Somehow recalling the name Silver Slicer reminded me of silver tongue.
Silver tongue is an expression that means, being able to speak in a way that makes other people do or believe what you want them to do or believe.
A silver-tongued politician.

Charismatic.
A person that could make reading a dictionary exciting.
Persuasive.
A person that can word something in such a way that you are on board before you know it.

Not always honest.
Able to word things shrewdly for maximum results.
Leaving out details that they consider incidental.
Leaving out details that would spin the story another way.

We can easily cut someone down to size with our words.
We can slice and dice with the best of them.
Our tongue is a silver slicer.
We can cut to our preference.

What would you do if the conversations inside your head were publicized?
Publicized for the whole world to see.
The arguments you have with yourself.
The thoughts about another person that you would never want anyone else to know.

The food processor of our minds, chopping another with our thoughts.
They will never know.
We can smile and seem so sincere.
But in our minds, a pureed feast is taking place.

What if all our thoughts were laid bare for all to see?
How embarrassed we would be.
How mortified that our facade has been broken through.
What we thought was hidden has been revealed.

I will have a half-pound of judgment please.
Give me a quarter-pound of criticism, sliced thin.
I would like a pound of meanness; it’s okay if you go over.
Can you imagine placing such orders at the deli counter?

We want our words and our actions to match, but often they are out of sync.
Even when our thoughts are not vicious or mean-spirited, they may not be true.

I remember when my oldest daughter was learning to ride her bike.
We had just purchased our first video camera.
The kind of camera that was large and carried on your shoulder.
The kind of camera that kept you tethered to an electrical outlet.

She was so excited to ride her bike and have her daddy film her.
He carried all the paraphernalia outside and she got situated at the end of the driveway.
The light came on as he began recording but she wouldn’t move.
Suddenly camera shy, or just simply nervous to try a new thing, she did nothing.

I was coaxing her from the sidelines.
I told her how much fun we will have watching the video when we got inside.
Nothing worked.
Nothing short of a cattle prod was going to get her to move.

In the scheme of things, this was not important.
I knew that once she mastered her bike, she would love to have it on film.
I remember how I felt inside: frustrated, annoyed, and if truth be told a bit angry.
When we watched the video later that night, none of those emotions showed through.

I have never forgotten how calm I sounded.
Calm on the outside, restless on the inside.
It was that day when I realized that there is indeed a disconnect.
Not intentional, but it is there nonetheless.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19: 14)

God has enshrined this wonderful verse in His Word.
He knows how difficult it is for our words and actions to line up.
He knows that our words and our hearts may be out of sync.
He knows that those of us who know Him and love Him are not pleased.

Neither is He.

That is why God the Father sent His Son, Jesus to earth.
That is why Jesus left His throne in Glory and came down and entered into our suffering.
That is why Jesus is such a wonderful example to follow.
Jesus never had a disconnect, not even once.

Jesus, the man like us in all things but sin.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.
(Hebrews 4:15)

Jesus, fully God and fully man, whose words and actions always matched.
Jesus who never sinned in His Words, in His actions, or in His heart.

Jesus whose order at the Silver Slicer is vastly different from ours.

I will have a half-pound of forgiveness.
I will have a quarter-pound of mercy.
I will have a pound of love.

The enemy does the slicing and dicing.
Jesus does the wrapping in His righteousness for the feast to come.