day 120: Our Shields

The security guards that protect our work buildings and protect us throughout the day while we are at work many times are given a badge to wear or stitch onto their uniforms. The badge is the miniature symbol of a shield. The shield is what warriors and knights carried to protect themselves when in battle. We all go to work each day with our own shields drawn that we have created and we carry them around with us all day long. Those shields are made up of sometimes impenetrable emotions and defensiveness. Sometimes they are made up of a routine set of 50 questions we always ask that keep people from asking us something we don't want to answer. Sometimes our shields will just be our posture and the look on our faces that tell everyone around us that we are not to be approached. Regardless, we all carry our shields. The question is, "are we carrying the shield that God wants us to carry?" In Ephesians 6:16, we are told: "In every battle you will need faith as your shield...". We all need our shields to make it through the battles and the rough patches that we have with the other people at work. But, we need to be sure that our shield sends the right message to the others at work. In the Sunday School class I teach (4th and 5th graders) we are currently making shields each week and we are decorating those shields with symbols that would represent who we are and what we want other people to see about ourselves. These symbols on shields have throughout time been part of the message to fight off others. When the knight would hold up the shield with the representation of the ferocious lion carved into the metal the other party could not help but be struck by the message of courage and fierceness that was about to come their way. We should all realize that we do the same each and every day and that the shield that others see is reflective of who we are. So, today can we each think about the shields that we put up and ensure that that what everyone else sees is the shield of God's faith, carved and decorated with the symbols of the Christlike demeanor and attitude that reinforces, not detracts from our purpose.

Reference: Ephesians 6:16 (New Living Testament)