BEING A PART - APART

Christian Times Magazine issue 65| Monthly Magazine

By J. K. Harrill

page 39

B E I N G A P A R T - A P A R T

In this place, in this time we are living in and thru, where do you, where do we, where should we see our place being? Where are we as Children Of God supposed to be found? Are we supposed to just work with what we have, being accepting of the decisions made for us, in our name by staying silent and trying to fit in? Is it our destiny to live masked up, blinders on, keeping what we know to ourselves, staying

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comfortably quiet, not standing up for fear of standing out? I honestly do not believe for one minute the majority of us do. Yet…. We have been A Part, when we should have been Apart and vice versa. The season was summer transitioning into Fall as I was driving South on the Interstate headed home after a week away working. South by Interstate definition yet geographically, absolutely due West. My knowing this to be 100% geographically correct because the afternoon Sun was located about one-foot above hood high and blinding to the naked eye. Once the highway relocated the Sun to a more manageable location, for whatever reason my mind chose, I could visibly see letters forming words. Ten letters in all, four A’s, two P’s, two R’s and two T’s. Below is an exact representation of what I was seeing that day.

A PART - APART

Exactly like that! All caps, the “A” standing alone, then right about three typewriter spaces, (I am 68 years old and typewriter spacing is still relevant in my world) then the letters “PART” standing side by side. Below that about midway down this imaginary page, the same letters as above yet the “A” fixed tightly against the other letters forming…. APART thus producing a definitive difference in the meaning of the same letters once placed together. My mind began dissecting the difference right before my mind’s eye, “A” space…. space “PART” separated, broken, yet the accepted meaning is Together, to be Included…. Being A Part Of! Then the letters A P A R T….. pulled tightly together…. APART actually meaning Separated… Broken APART From.

The entire trip home I couldn’t get past the fact being the word A PART which is separated means Together and the word APART which is together means Separated. I have surely came across a flaw in Mr. Webster's definition of the American English language. Maybe this was actually the decision of one less known to have assisted Mr. Webster in the Americanized English language spelling, because Benjamin Franklin was known to be one who enjoyed a intellectual witticism with the best of them. Upon arriving home, I went directly to the dining room table, pen and paper in hand and wrote the words exactly as seen.

A PART - APART

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and immediately became aware that not only are they grammatically correct…. they became visually correct once adding a underscore.

A________PART - APART

I immediately knew why the space between the A and PART was not just important, it was required. You see the only way we will ever be included in anything, anywhere, anyway…. There has to be a Space Available. Room for us to fit in…. Thus the space between the A and PART is where we find opportunity to be included, our available space right there between the A and P. No space available in APART…. Letters so tightly placed one beside the other…. No Room for us or anyone else, forcing us always to be APART FROM…..!

Then I began to realize how flexible, how mobile the letter “A” is required to be in the process of being A_____PART. When we, anyone, everyone enters that imaginary space between the “A” and “PART” in a relationship, it doesn’t require much space for us to fit in. We don’t bring very much with us to a First Date, yet the longer we are A____ PART of another’s life, included in another’s world, we require more room, more space. So, the letter “A” begins to adjust itself, it’s position affording us our needed room. As time passes, and the relationship grows, the letter “A” moves farther and farther away from its “PART-ner” letters to the point that by the time a couple may decide to make their relationship permanently fixed in place, we have taken up so much space, requiring so much room, the “A” is so far away by then it isn’t even visible anymore. We even begin to drop it from our communication. We say things like “We Are Part Of Each Other’s Life!” No need for the “A” in PART anymore. Yet the “A” is still there, and if we are not careful it will begin to move back to the right in the direction of “PART”. That begins to occur when we become complacent, inconsiderate to the others wants, let alone needs. We don’t listen like we once did or care as much and if we are not careful, we awake one morning to find the “A” has not only returned, it has placed itself firmly against the “P” and we know for the first time everything has fallen apart. Then just like with the story of Humpty Dumpty, All the Kings Horses and All The Kings Men Can Never Pull The “A” away the “Part” ever again. And the relationship is over. All due to the effects found in not paying attention

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to and/or mismanagement of the space between “A” and “PART”. We are always one or the other, A___PART of or APART from. Many times, we find ourselves being a combination of both.

Jesus is most assuredly the greatest example of being both. Jesus came to be A____PART of this World, a World created by God, the Father who sent him. Yet the same World he would always be APART from. Well APART from until his return. With the crucification of Christ, came the establishment of Salvation by the shedding of the blood of Jesus, which once we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior… our Work begins. We as born-again Christians are A___PART of the Kingdom of God, which also requires us to set ourselves aside, away and APART from the Sins of a Lost and Dying World. A ____PART of while at the same time being APART from. Imagine for a moment one by one filling the space between the letter “A” and the word “PART” with a picture of those who actually fit in that space. How quickly the “A” moves to the left affording the needed available space.

Each and every picture representative of someone, somewhere who is now or has been A_____PART of our lives, A_____PART of who we are and why. It’s really easier than we may think because we have them saved, remembered, physically and emotionally saved, housed in a space that until now we hadn’t even considered existed. A place of acceptance, being A____PART.

We are always one or the other, A____PART of or APART from. Not only in life here, in our decision made for Eternity. We will be A____PART of the place prepared just for us, be it Heaven or Hell. We will also be APART from one of the two for that same reason, it is our Choice.

November is a time we as citizens of the United States have designated as a time to choose, a time to vote, vote to elect those whose thinking, whose values, whose character and consideration we see ourselves as being included in, being A_____PART. Individuals representing A____PART of who we are, standing up and speaking out from different levels of government for Morals and Values, Faith, Hope, Truth, Justice, and Grace for All.

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Just as I previously ask you to consider placing the pictures of those past and present in your life in the imaginary space between the “A” and “PART”, I now ask you to do the same with the Name and/or Photographs of those asking for your Vote this November.

Are they someone who fits in that space between the “A” and “PART”? Or do you find no matter how hard you try; they just don’t fit.

They are and will always be APART from you and I, what we know and believe. This is one of the most important times of our lives. A Time of Setting Ourselves APART From the Politics Which Is Destroying Our Nation.

A Time Of Being A____PART of Saving Our Nation From Those Who Are and unfortunately appear Will Always Be APART from Who God Intended Us and Wants This Nation To Be. God Bless You My Friends and May God Save The United States of America.