ELOGOS for Thursday

​Proverbs 22: 1-2
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord is the maker of them all.
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Do you ever wonder what your friends say about you to other people? Not the folks who don't know you well, but the ones who do. Do they speak well of you? Do they defend you against unkindness or injustice? Do they adjust for their own purposes what they say about you depending on who they are speaking with? Does this sound more than a bit paranoid? Perhaps. I try not to lose sleep over it, but I do from time to time because trust matters. I hope I never forget what I overheard a friend from long ago say to their friends. He said that I could be trusted, that he would trust me with his children and that they could trust me with theirs. That good name was not something I could find on Amazon. It was given to me the same way everyone else is given their reputation - regardless of all the other human status labels - I was endowed by my Creator with the status of being a human, a creation, a child of God. Over the years, that good name was and is mine to ignore or tarnish or cherish. The fact that it still has any shiny spots at all is the stuff of wonder and miracles. 
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Holy God, may I each day value the trust of those with whom I live and work. Amen.